During the past few weeks, MSc Project Management students Klaudia, Karen and Charlie have organised a series of bag packing events to support the charity Age UK (Sutton).
Hey guys! Introduce yourself…
Hi, my name is Klaudia, I did an International Business Bachelor’s degree. A part of my sandwich course I worked as an associate project manager in the IT industry, for 15 months. This inspired me to take on an MSc in Project Management. My ambition is to go into the IT industry after my course.
Hey, I am Karen and I am an MSc Project Management student, I took this course to learn more about what it is to be a project manager and how to run projects. I am keen to go into the construction industry particularly related to health and safety.
Hi all, my name is Charlie, having previously worked on projects within rail projects I wanted to get to grips with how a project manager is able to competently do their job. I took this course to do so, and hope to move back into the rail industry after.
About the project…
As part of our course, we were given an interesting assignment to raise awareness and money for a charity, which would allow us to demonstrate our project management skills. The charity was Age UK which was democratically selected by the entire MSc Project Management cohort. The scope and means to do were entirely up to us. The groups were allocated by the course leader based on academic performance. This is how we became the Go 4 Age UK Sutton team.
Realising the gravity of the task ahead we established role and responsibilities and quickly got into brainstorming. Ideas were bounced around including running a coffee and smoothie stand, and even at one point suggesting to go to Coventry to raise money at Charlie’s mum’s church. Finally, we settled on the final idea, the idea. Klaudia with the help of input from family came across a brilliant proposal: “How about packing people’s shopping in supermarkets?”.
The next step involved building and establishing relationships with stores willing to host a charitable bag packing event in aid of Age UK Sutton. Klaudia got in contact with ASDA Sutton’s Community Manager, Tracey Jacques, who really supported us arrange and organise the event. Our gratitude is never ending to Tracey for helping us with the event. Equally, Charlie was able to contact and formulate a relationship with Tim Stanley who provided the key support to allow us into Waitrose Banstead. Without the support of Tim, our event would not have created the same result which we achieved.
The Challenging Part…
As you may imagine, we faced some challenges along the way in this project, particularly with adhering to the guidelines and structures of Age UK Sutton. We had to quickly align ourselves in order to move forward with the project, which did at times cause delay and confusion. Compounded with the issue that we were in a group of three whilst others in the course had a group of four, our performance was at risk in other modules. Organising a bag packing event is not as easy as it looks. It takes a lot of time to get the approvals to pack bags in stores and organise the volunteers. Fortunately, we were able to overcome these challenges and progress to having a memorable event, raising money and awareness for Age UK Sutton and MSc Project Management.
What we loved about it…
We thoroughly enjoyed the event itself, bringing together all our other coursemates, some of which we had never worked with before, broadening our horizons and ultimately creating strong and lasting friendships. Working together as a team, we relished the opportunity to engage one-to-one with customers asking about their day, raising awareness about Age UK Sutton and Westminster Business School. It was refreshing to hear of the great support Age UK Sutton gives to the local Sutton community with many expressing their appreciation for the work the charity does.
Running a real project was something we all enjoyed and we are very happy that we were given an opportunity to be on this MSc Project Management course. It gave us a taste of what it is like to be a project manager in the real world, building and formulating relationships and completing the necessary documentation for a successful project.
Our Achievements…
The two events ran swimmingly, but we didn’t let up, we carried on fundraising through our online page and taking part in social media events like #charitytuesday to broadcast Age UK Sutton even more. To date, we are proud to have achieved over £1,000 for Age UK Sutton and have really enjoyed working together relishing this exciting and different module. This module is the best, it shows you in reality what it’s like running a project. If you’re interested in studying Project Management at Westminster Business School and want to learn how to do so, we would all advocate signing up and doing so!
Congratulations to team Go 4 Age UK Sutton on your achievements and thank you to them for taking the time out to write this blog. If you’re interested in this course, then head to MSc Project Management to find out more.
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