More technology companies and jobs may be coming to Chico.
Chico State’s Project Management Group is putting on a competition that will represent the values of the city and what it has to offer. The competition will be funded by the Chico Tech Group.
The deadline for the student projects is April 2, but the dates for the presentations have not been determined yet.
Four groups will participate, each with six to eight people with different skill sets, such as web and graphic design. One project manager and two project management students will be in each group.
The finished projects will be presented to the City Council, who will judge the competition. The winners will continue on and present to the Chamber of Commerce and other groups, such as the Rotary Club of Chico.
Sean Morgan, a business management professor and city council member, worked with the group to get the competition started.
“The Project Management Group is the most dynamic and capable student organization on campus,” Morgan said.
The outcome of this competition could allow for alumni and current students to give back to Chico. Kristen Cattell, a junior project management major and vice president of communications for the Project Management Group, thinks it could benefit the city.
“It’ll essentially keep a lot of the CSU Chico students in town because we have such a great program through tech, IT and business,” Cattell said. “It would keep all those graduates with these great, high-level skills in the city of Chico.”
The competition also has the potential to build the economy of Chico and bring bigger businesses, Cattell said.
Participants can benefit from the competition in various ways.
“They’ll be dealing with real-life scenarios of teamwork, deliverables and deadlines and running into real-world problems,” Cattell said.
The campus and community are working together to ensure that this competition is a success.
“This is going to be a great collaboration across multiple departments within CSU Chico,” Cattell said. “It’s going to be amazing. I knew that there was going to be a high demand to be on teams just within the PMG just because we are a highly motivated group with competitive people.”
Participants of the competition will receive reference letters from the mayor and public recognition. Each member of the winning group will receive Microsoft Windows tablets.
Although the project will require a time commitment of 15 hours or more a week, students are looking forward to the opportunity. Connor Kennedy, a senior business administration major and project manager, has a positive outlook on the challenge.
“We will have something for our professional portfolios,” Kennedy said. “Whether we win or lose, it’ll be a huge opportunity to actually show what we do.”
Jennifer Pierson, a sophomore mechatronic engineering major, believes all of Chico could benefit from it.
“I think that it is a great opportunity for the city of Chico, Chico State and students involved,” Pierson said.
Dominique Diaz can be reached at [email protected] or @dominiqueldiaz on Twitter.
