Recent graduate working in Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre

Hannah Randall graduated in 2018 with a first class honours in Primary Education and with great timing secured a role at the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre here at the University.

The alumni team met with Hannah at the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre to discuss her exciting new opportunity.

 

Tell us a little about your current professional role.

I found this position as the head of my course during my second year was working with the Centre and had encouraged me to reach out to them for possible opportunities. I initially got in touch to do some work as a volunteer but fortunately a job came up which suited my skills well so I applied for it and secured my role as Administration and Learning Assistant – it was great timing!

 

What does a typical day or week involve?

It’s very varied. I teach the schools that come into the Centre for workshops, and I prepare resources and work with the learning manager to plan and write the workshops. I also deal with administration, which includes booking and helping arrange our monthly survivor talks and school visits to the Centre. There are lots of other elements to the role which I never saw myself being involved with when I started working here, but which I actually really enjoy - such as helping to plan the events.

What’s most rewarding about your role and what have you found the most challenging?

I love that I’m working with history every day as I’m a huge history geek but didn’t study this as part of my degree, so to be able to work in this area is really exciting.

I really enjoy working with the subject and drawing parallels to the way the world is now. It’s great when I work with a group and see them make the connections for themselves, which hopefully means they go home with something to think about the world around them. It’s very rewarding.

However, I’d also say that working with the subject matter every day is one of the most challenging parts of my job. Although I know the stories of our survivors pretty well, sometimes in the exhibition when you hear it in their own words on one of the testimony screens it really hits you how the Holocaust affected individuals rather than the collective number: ‘six million’.

 

How do you anticipate you will build your career from here / what are your plans for the next few years?

I’m planning to go back to study this next academic year, which I’ll do part-time alongside my role at the Centre. I’m hoping to start a Master’s in Education, focusing on extremism and community cohesion, here at the University of Huddersfield.

Following this, in terms of career progression I’m pretty open to seeing what opportunities arise, particularly once I’ve completed my Master’s. The exhibition is still new and rapidly evolving, it’s exciting to be a part of it and to see where my role takes me.