Career Services

R.E.A.L. Projects for Companies & Alumni

What are R.E.A.L. Projects?

Real Experience Applied Learning

R.E.A.L. Projects consist of interdisciplinary student teams working on a semester length project submitted by companies and organizations interested in working with WSU students.

R.E.A.L. Projects are a for-credit class focused on
project management. The goal is to produce recommendations, results or deliverables for company clients. Students meet six times in class for training and instruction each semester and work outside of class 7-9 hours a week with their team to complete a project.

interns

 

How Does it Work?

  1. Clients develop a project summary that outlines the work they want completed. The project summary is submitted here. Clients can specify skill set and majors they are looking for in their student team
  2. Project summaries are made available to interested students across the university
  3. Students register for the R.E.A.L Projects course and then rank their preferred projects
  4. Project groups are then created and assigned to work with a client on their project. The projects run the length of fall and spring semesters, starting in September and January and lasting 13 weeks.

Types of Projects

The type of work students will be doing depends on the company sponsoring the project and what their needs are. A list of projects will be emailed to students after they register. The email will have the company name and a summary of the project. Students will be able to rank the projects according to their preference. R.E.A.L. Projects faculty will assign students to a project and a team. Students won't always get their most preferred project, but faculty will do their best to accommodate requests.

Project Category Examples:

  • Incorporate best practices
  • Analyze new market opportunities
  • Evaluate organizational effectiveness or change
  • Deliver supply chain resource recommendations
  • Marketing plans, marketing research
  • Consumer or competitive analysis
  • Feasibility, economic and benchmark studies
  • New programming creation

Past Projects:

Market Research | Publishing Company

  • Project team conducted a S.W.O.T. analysis of new markets for the company to expand into, and created a launch/marketing packet for potential clients in those new markets.

Digital Resource Guide | Government

  • Project team created a website to house collected resource information for furloughed employees affected by government shutdowns.

Training Content and Video | On-Campus University Employee

  • Project team developed an information brochure to help educate new volunteers, and created a video to help train them.

Corporate Wellness Program | Pharmacy

  • Project team developed a 4-fold comprehensive wellness program, which included a couch to 5k, book club, passive incentives, and a wellness recognition wall.

COVID-19 Community Resource Website | Government

  • A continuation of a previous digital resource project, project team modified and updated a community resource website with information for those affected by COVID-19.

App Development | On-Campus University Employee

  • Market research was conducted to collect information for the design of an app which would allow hikers to donate to hiking trail upkeep as well as report trail status.

Market Research | Community Newspaper

  • Conducted market research for a community newspaper and created recomendations for a media kit to be used by the newspaper to expand its market penetration.

Strategic Audit / Marketing Recommendations | Education

  • The project team conducted research on the needs of the Davis School District and how best to encourage greater participation from students in their CTE programs.

Motion Sensor Coding | Education

  • The project team created several math-based games to teach high school students velocity and positioning in an interactive way.

Brochure & Training | Community Non-Profit

  • The project team has created a brochure, along with a training video in both Spanish and English for neighborhood block captains in the downtown Ogden area.

Website Design & Implementation | University & Government

  • The project team has created a new website designed to assist WSU students in securing employment with HAFB. They researched and gathered various resources to include in the website.  

Translation Guides | Religious Organization

  • The project team created various translation guides of talks given by church leadership, as well as guides for the church hymnal. These Guides will be used to assist the church translation team in translating the content into numerous languages.

Benefits

Connect with Weber State University students

  • Take the opportunity to conduct a 13-week interview of potential new talent
  • Mentor the up-and-coming future workforce

Give back to Weber State University

  • Are you an alumnus? Working with a R.E.A.L. Projects team of WSU students is a great way to give back to your alma mater

Get some stuff done!

  • Use R.E.A.L. Projects to check off all the items on your to-do list that you just haven't been able to get around to
  • Gain access to new knowledge and university resources

Questions to Consider Before Submitting a Project:

  1. What are your biggest challenges?
  2. Do you have any new products or services?
  3. What areas are you most understaffed?
  4. Do you have any processes that could benefit from lean principles?
  5. Are there areas of the marketplace you would like to tap into?

Submit Your Project Proposal

Sign up for a R.E.A.L. Project

Fill out the project application to submit your project proposal. All proposals are reviewed within 48 business hours, then you will be contacted by the R.E.A.L. Projects screening committee to discuss your proposal. 

Do you need assistance coming up with a project proposal, or determining the scope of work you need a project team for? Contact the R.E.A.L. Projects team: internships@weber.edu.