Donald Trump's Apprentice show on NBC is short on reality and long on drama and the dark side of management. At New Hampshire Community College this spring, students in the Project Management Seminar course worked on a real project that in a positive way benefited both themselves as future managers as well as the local community.
The course created two teams of students who were split up and given the project of raising money for the charities of their choice. The winning team in the end would receive a better grade, and if either team raised $1500 it would mean an automatic "A" for that project.
Both teams started by contacting their charities and then worked with them to coordinate the handling of donations. The teams went out to local businesses, had bake sales, sold candy, created bulk mailings, knocked on doors, and cold called everyone they could think of. The students experienced what it was like to travel over an hour to knock on the doors of eight different businesses in one town and be shut out and then drive north for a half hour to another town and be given the red carpet with great donations. They discovered the subtleties of sales and the importance of building credibility. They created fund raising ideas and saw the ideas both fail and succeed.
The Community Technical College in Berlin is about getting students ready for the real, real world, from Culinary Arts students working and running a public restaurant, to Computer Technology students networking buildings and offices. A College can be like the Apprentice show with fake simulations or it can be a real learning environment that reaches out to the local community and teaches business project management at the same time.
Trump's show the Apprentice paints future business managers and young teams in the worst possible light. The show's constant focus on back stabbing and simulated drama with stress creates nothing else but ad revenue. It draws out the public's thirst for meanness and victimhood which grows with each television season.
At the Community Technical College each team member worked with real goals and real objectives. The students learned teamwork and how to run and organize a project; ultimately they contributed to the good of our community. Judy Marcou, Jessica Frenette, Kathleen Johnson, Marsha Blanchette, and Kyle Dube all raised $2083.11 for a local 11 year old child with cancer to help meet some of her medical needs.
The other team, consisting of Katelyn Fillion, Melanie Gleason, Roxanne Boucher, and Greg Auger raised over $1300 for the Make-A-Wish foundation and $900 for the Humane Society.
These NHCTC students are not among the million resumes competing for a position in Trump's Apprentice. These students would put Trump's contestants to shame in leadership, creativity, organization, and teamwork. The students learned some great lessons and gave a wonderful boost to our community. So, Donald, you might want to register early for next spring's REAL Project Management course at CCSNH Berlin.
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