LEIDOS GRADUATES & APPRENTICES IN SCOTTISH CHALLENGE WIN

LEIDOS GRADUATES AND APPRENTICES IN SCOTTISH CHALLENGE WIN

In more good news, Leidos graduates and apprentices are winners of the Association for Project Management 2020 Scotland Challenge, that recognises their skills and work with the charity, Achieve More Scotland.

The nine-month competition tests the skills of up-and-coming project managers by challenging them to create and deliver a project to benefit their chosen charity. The winning team - Catherine Fevre, Callum Harley, Jen Clelland, Vickie McArthur, and Euan Brady – created a project aimed at collecting sportswear and equipment for Achieve More Scotland, which organises sports and activities for young people.

As part of Leidos’ graduate and apprenticeship programme, the team began the challenge in October 2019 collecting donations at Skypark. Donation bins were placed in gyms and leisure centres across the City however, their efforts were cut short by Covid-19 and the closure of all sports facilities. Team Project Manager Catherine Fevre said: “We got off to a great start with the challenge and received lots of great donations, including a skateboard and kit for a full netball squad. We had just organised our branded donation bins and made agreements with lots of gyms and leisure centres when lockdown happened, and they all closed.

“But we quickly adapted and instead organised virtual fitness classes to raise funds for Achieve More Scotland. The challenge may be over, but we plan to continue supporting the charity and will have our donation bins in gyms and leisure centres as soon as they reopen in Scotland.”

Matt Bruce-Kingsmill, Scotland Chair of APM, said: “This is a fantastic achievement. The team has worked hard and delivered. I admire their achievements throughout the competition, along with adapting to changing deadlines and deliverables brought about by Covid-19. The judges were all really impressed with Team Leidos’ reports and presentations”.

AFTER

1.5 metre haircuts raise funds for children’s charity

Three Leidos colleagues, Elise McGill, Michael Seils and Fiona Keady, have donated their hair and raised more than £2,000 for the Little Princess Trust charity.

The charity provides real hair wigs to children and young people who lose their hair to cancer and other illnesses as well as funding vital research to help end childhood cancer.

The colleagues were inspired when Michael, whose hair has long been the envy of his Skypark colleagues, announced that he was considering shaving it off. Elise and Fiona spotted an opportunity to raise money and awareness for a great cause.

Fiona said: “Having talked about donating our hair for so long, it felt a bit surreal when the big day finally came. Michael was relaxed about the whole thing – Elise and I much less so – but we were all 100% committed to going through with it for the Little Princess Trust. We donated around 1.5 metres of hair between us in the end, which will now be turned into real hair wigs for children.

“Throughout this whole experience, we have had fantastic support from our colleagues, friends, and family, who have helped us raise more than £2,000 for the charity’s wig-making costs and vital research. And a special thank you to Lisa and the team at Skypark for lending us the glass meeting room for the day – without it, our hair chops wouldn’t have happened! Our new looks will take a bit of getting used to, but we’re so glad we did it.”

The Little Princess Trust relies solely on the efforts of community fundraisers. You can help the team boost their fantastic total by donating here:

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/3snips

Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos is a Fortune 500 science, engineering and technology company, employing 1,100 people across the UK, including 250 at its flagship office in Glasgow.