Durham College Project Management students win Ontario Project Management Competition for second consecutive year

Durham College’s (DC) Project Management students took home first place in the Ontario Project Management Competition (OPMC). Held in collaboration with the Project Management Institute, this annual event is an opportunity to develop and advance project management (PM) practices. Students must have an above-average understanding of best PM practices and methods, and the ability to apply their learnings in an innovative setting in order to compete.

“We are very proud of the work achieved by Durham College’s Project Management faculty and students,” says Reza Mofid, professor, School of Business, IT & Management. “We’ve competed twice in this event, and our students have won both times. This kind of success reaffirms the fact that our school is preparing exceptional leaders for the future of this industry.”

This year’s DC team consisted of PM students Lauren Breen, Diana Pena Orjuela, Andrea Zuluaga, Jaisleen Kaur and Roshan Kottary. The team created Project MEPHY Health, a combined mental and physical health application with a built-in algorithm to check measurement and placement of a person’s body while correcting posture issues. As part of the OPMC requirements, the application was evaluated on how well PM principles were used to plan and deliver the project. It also had to satisfy the Health UN Sustainability factor, which encourages students to consider protection of the environment and our planet.

“With the help of Durham College’s Project Management faculty serving as our mentors, our team started our application concept, which we had to submit in January for approval to compete,” says Jaisleen Kaur, Project Management student. “From there, we had to meet identified requirements and submit the complete application to a judges’ review panel. On the day of the competition, our team had twenty minutes to present our project and ten minutes to answer questions from the judges. It was an exciting experience to have as our first competition!”

In recognition of their win, the OPMC awarded the team a cash prize, which the students have generously donated to the Canadian Cancer Society.

DC congratulates the winning students on their success and thanks the PM faculty for leading our students to meet their fullest potential.