Presentation: Teaching Youth the Importance of Project Management
Abstract: Ever wonder what your life would have been like if you had learned project management as a kid? If your answer is yes, you’re not alone. We’ve wondered – if we learned Project Management skills as life skills early on, how would that have made an impact on our lives today?
Project management skills are more than just career skills – they are life skills and they should be taught to youth so that they can take advantage of what project management tools and techniques have to offer them at earlier ages. Taking it one step further, when we teach and learn project management skills alongside creativity and innovation skills (at any age) we are effectively adding rocket fuel to how we manage projects and get ahead.
Aimee Barbagallo, PMP, Board of Trustee member at Destination Imagination, Inc. and Program Manager at T. Rowe Price, and Andrew Whitmire, PMP, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Advancement at Destination Imagination, Inc. will first share how Destination Imagination is teaching youth project management as a life skill through the support of the Project Management Institute Educational Foundation and reflect on how working with youth allowed her to better embrace her creativity and become a more effective project manager.
Key Takeaways:
- Project management skills are life skills
- Project management is a creative process; embracing creativity will make you a more effective project manager
- Teaching project management skills to youth creates problem solvers, critical thinkers and collaborative team members in tomorrow’s work force
This presentation is based on a presentation that was originally presented to the Project Management Institute Educational Foundation (PMIEF) in 2019 and has been viewed 36,000 times.
PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills
Biography: Aimee Barbagallo is a PMP-certified Program Manager and Change Management Practitioner with T. Rowe Price, specializing in global product launches and process improvement. Aimee has driven strategic and transformational change in the financial industry from various vantage points, with previous program management experience at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Nasdaq Stock Market. Aimee is also a member of the Board of Trustees for Destination Imagination, an international non-profit organization that teaches the creative process to 150,000 students annually, empowering them with the skills needed to succeed in an ever-changing world through STEAM-based (including arts!) problem solving competitions held in 30 countries. She is passionate about how to use project management for social good in our society and for children to learn as a tool for success in life. Aimee holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting Information Systems from Virginia Tech and Master’s degree in Policy Management from Georgetown University.
