'You are role models to so many students.'
'Like you, I have been inspired to give my time to make a difference to communities on campus and across the city,' says medical student Lydia.
'You give your time to help us as mentors, speakers and advisors. Learning from your example, my friends, classmates and I set up two groups for students to give their time to help the NHS during these unprecedented times: Birmingham Medical Students Helping Hands and Birmingham Medical Students for Action.
'Through these groups, students have given more than 109,000 hours – the equivalent of 58 people working for one year – to support stretched NHS workers. From delivering prescriptions for pharmacies and food to those who had to self-isolate, to providing childcare for staff on shift and volunteering in hospital wards and across 111 call centres, they have made a difference to healthcare workers working on the front line.
'Being able to see the impact that volunteers make, even doing small things, makes us really grateful for the community we have at Birmingham, without which none of this would have been possible.
'From one volunteer to another, and on behalf of all of my friends and colleagues,thank you so much for all that you do. Your generosity of time and expertiseinspires us to follow in your footsteps. We are so humbled to stand alongside you in the volunteer community! Below you can hear from fellow volunteers Rosalind and Barry.'
Lydia Wilson, final year medical student
Dr Rosalind Brock
“I generally enjoy helping people to develop, and mentoring seemed to be an opportunity to help students at an important
time in their lives. When I was a student, I would have valued the opportunity to talk to someone who had experience of the type of careers I was thinking about, so thought it would be beneficial to try to share some of my experiences.”
Dr Barry Cockcroft
“I’ve been a mentor on the Alumni Leadership Mentoring Programme almost from its inception and have found it incredibly rewarding. It’s a fantastic programme that gives students guidance and insight as they begin their career journey, and mentors gain a lot out of their involvement too.”
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Find out about further ways you can support students at Birmingham, including
- Support young people who have been in care or who provide care for family members
- Help bright young minds who want to be engineers or entrepreneurs
- Share your expertise as a mentor or through an internship