History Student Wins Volunteer of the Year Award

Third-year History student Joe Welch has been awarded the Young Volunteer of the Year award at the West Midlands Volunteer Awards held at the Birmingham Hippodrome last month. Joe received the award for his outstanding commitment to visitor engagement at the Pen Museum in Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter.

Joe started his time with the Pen Museum during his second-year work placement, clocking up one hundred hours of experience earlier in the year. Joe’s experience on placement was so transformative that he decided to stay on with the Museum and continued to work with them as a Visitor Engagement Assistant. Joe’s efforts have been given special praise by the Museum’s visitors with many mentioning him by name in their reviews of the well-known attraction. The Museum commented ‘Joe’s journey from a university placement to being involved with the museum’s senior team really is an incredible one and is a testament to his passion, commitment and dedication to our museum and story’.

Joe, who is currently completing the final year of his BA (Hons) in History, was delighted with his award. He told the History Subject Area blog how his time with the Pen Museum ‘was a really fulfilling experience, made even more so, following my nomination for West Midlands Volunteer of the Year in the Young Persons category’. Joe was positive about what kicked off his experience with the Pen Museum: his work placement module: ‘I would recommend that all students take all the opportunities that the work placement provides. It a great chance to see what type of career you might want to pursue as a graduate. It is also a brilliant opportunity to see how your academic skills can be transferred to the workplace’.

To find out more about Joe’s success, visit the Pen Museum’s website.