Jamaica College (JC) has added Construction Project Management to its curriculum for fifth and sixth forms.

The initiative is the brainchild of Gore Developments Limited (GDL), with administrative input from the Gore Family Foundation.

A total of 14 students will benefit from the course, which will be certified by HEART and is fully sponsored by GDL, whose principal, Phillip Gore, is a JC old boy.

A news release from GDL said that the company developed the confidence to create the Construction Project Management course after partnering with ATL on equipping the nutrition lab in JC’s Phillip Gore Building.

“Professionals and close associates of GDL, with years of experience in the fields of architecture, project management, quantity and land surveying together with civil engineering, will conduct this course to impart their considerable expertise on a weekly basis over the next school year,” the news release said.

“It is entirely paperless, computerised, high-tech and each student gets maximum exposure to all the different software programmes used by the various professionals.”

The first session started on September 13 and went very well with the 14 young men who were chosen out of 40 applicants (mostly sixth formers), being very enthusiastic participants. In fact, the students have motivated the presenters to expand class activities.

The company explained that each week three special students will be selected – one to be the ‘Google Manager’ who will check out all the facts and figures during the class and impart the information to his fellow students; another will be the ‘techno-wiz’, who leads the way in relation to software; while the third student will act as the recording secretary.

“Students will study plans and data from actual Gore Homes housing projects during the school term, culminating with a six-week hands-on paid apprenticeship programme on an actual Gore Homes construction site during the summer holidays,” the company explained.