Project of the Year participants awarded scholarships from PMI.
Chelsea Skubal and Andrew Scherer acccept their scholarships. Photo courtesy of Stacey Fornstrom
On March 10th, thirteen seniors represented TJ in the Project of the Year competition at the Project Management Institute. On April 16th, two of those seniors took their aspirations even farther by being awarded the High School Project of the Year scholarship. “They are more than deserving,” said Computer Magnet Instructor Stacey Fornstrom.
The Seniors who won this scholarship of $2,500 each are Andrew Scherer and Chelsea Skubal. After winning the Project of the Year competition, Scherer and Skubal attended a luncheon to display their projects. Skubal presented her website and graphic design layout, which included accessories for Girls’ Swimming, along with a “You are here” map of TJ. Scherer set up a station showing off fliers, posters, and a video he had made promoting the JROTC program. “It was really successful,” said Scherer. “It drew a lot of people’s attention because we had everything laid out very nice and neat, so everyone started coming over.”
Skubal reflects on being slightly nervous during her presentation to the judges. “A lot of the judges kind of grilled us,” said Skubal. “There were also a lot of other good competitors, which was scary. But it eased up after a while. It was easy to present something we knew so well.”
In addition to creating a means of advertising the JROTC program, Scherer also applied his project as recruiting materials in various middle schools, such as Hamilton. “I really wanted to reach our feeder schools,” said Scherer. “I wanted to show them what JROTC is really all about.”
Throughout the creation of their projects, both seniors took a great of deal of guidance from Fornstrom, their Pathways instructor. “He guided us through the project, really,” said Skubal. “He helped with planning, gave us ideas, and encouraged us all the way. He was a great leader.”
Both Skubal and Scherer admit to being surprised after winning the scholarship. “They really seemed to like how I had all the stuff I needed,” said Scherer. “It felt really great to win the scholarship.”
After being awarded the scholarship, the two seniors hope to put it towards their college aspirations. Skubal plans to attend CU Denver, and hopes to major in some kind of engineering. Scherer plans to major in mechanical engineering at CSU in Fort Collins.
After an entire semester of vigorous work, Skubal has taken more than just a scholarship from the experience. “At first I didn’t take the project all that seriously,” said Skubal. “But then, I learned to work hard at everything you do, because it pays off in the end.”
For more information on the Project of the Year competition, go to http://www.tjjournal.com/2010/03/16/computer-magnet-excels-in-project-management/
