The PCU Orientation Boot Camp is an opportunity for scholars to be engaged in intensive workshops, presentations, and hands-on activities to prepare them for any upcoming opportunity. Based on their motto “Preparing you for what you should know before you go”, PCU customizes sessions ranging from one to five days, covering topics of interest to the funder and of benefit to the participant.
Students are so often recruited to go off to opportunities and undertake work they have technical expertise in, but no knowledge or understanding of the environment or what it takes to exceed expectations. The PCU Orientation Boot Camp stands in the gap by providing those much needed “wrap-around” services. We not only want to introduce them to the selected opportunity and its stakeholders, but also to empower them by helping them understand what they were about to undertake. We want to prepare individuals to go into their opportunity with a personal strategic plan to help improve their chances for success.
The Boot Camp includes professional development trainings in the areas of professionalism, networking, opportunity specific logistics and concludes with a basic Project Management (PM) workshop that introduces scholars to various project management elements. At the end of the workshop, students are given the opportunity to present and discuss their strategic plans with their peers.