Mohammed Tawil has successfully logged 200 hours of volunteering! To date, his volunteering journey has taken him as Captain of the development volleyball team, Law Society Debate Mock Trial officer, and a Course Rep for his Law Degree here at the University of Plymouth!
Captain of the Volleyball team
Mohammed’s journey in the volleyball team started in his first year of university. Since then, he has started coaching many team members and has achieved a referee qualification.
Within the Volleyball team, Mohammed is the captain for the Heatwaves developmental team – the team is new to volunteering and is just transitioning from the social volleyball sessions to start competitive volleyball. During each session, Mohammed is helping players enhance their skills on and off the court, for example, by helping them remember volleyball play, which is particularly important in local league matches. Mohammed has found fulfilment in this role, enjoying seeing a real difference in members who have stepped up from social to developmental volleyball. This has been recognised within his peers as he will now be running social sessions for the volleyball club in the next academic year. Mohammed explains that volleyball has been such a great stress relief as his course is very demanding.
Law Society
Aside from volleyball, Mohammed has also dedicated a lot of hours to the Law society where he is the Debate and Mock Trial officer. The law society runs a debate competition every year which has multiple rounds, lower rounds are judged by Mohammed, then it progresses to committee and the final round is judged by a law professional. Mohammed has helped to organise these events, which have proven very popular and competitive with members who are competiting to win a prize of a mini pupillage at a law firm to enhance their CPD.
Mohammed is also responsible for bringing back mock trails to the law society, after a few years of not running this type of event. Law society members were able to enter magistrates court and run a simulation mock trial with evidence. From the society, they have been able to determine jury, witnesses and also recieved help from professionals in running this. It is because of the success of this year that the society will be running this again in the new academic year.
Being part of the law society committee has enhanced Mohammed’s confidence and experience, and has shown he is able to take feedback and expand on his knowledge which led him to win the Law Society’s Mooting competition, as well as a week’s pupillage at a law firm in September.
Volunteering as a Course Rep
Alongside the Law Society, Mohammed is the Cours Rep for his law degree. This role requires him to engage with his peers and help their voices to be heard within the department constructively by taking forward feedback and ensuring this feedback is acted on appropriately by University staff.
To date, Mohammed has logged 201 hours of volunteering. Congratulations Mohammed you are an asset to UPSU!