31 May 2016

Costain’s Angelika Chraska-Pongo has won the title Volunteer of the Year award for London and the South East from Career Ready, a charity that connects employers with schools and colleges to open up the world of work to young people.

Angelika is Senior Community Relations Manager for London Underground’s Bond Street Station Upgrade, a Costain Laing O’Rourke joint venture project, and the London Underground Bakerloo line link, a Costain Skanska joint venture. She volunteers as a mentor and Local Advisory Board member at the Quinton Kynaston School in London, where she shares her experience and knowledge with young people who are about to leave school. Angelika also arranges paid internships for Career Ready students at Costain; last year’s intern Yehya Hawila was runner up in the AstraZeneca STEM Student of the Year Award for engineering and will start a QS apprenticeship with Costain in August 2016

Said Angelika: “I’ve been working with Career Ready over the last four years to help inspire young people who are studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects and show them the real working life application for these subjects.

“The programme is important because it gives experience and confidence to young people and also opens doors to big companies. It is also a good example for employers of the importance of volunteering and convinces them that what they do can make a difference.”

She added: “I am very proud to be recognised and hope this award will help achieve further improvement and appreciation of the importance of volunteering within construction and engineering.”

Angelika was one of 14 volunteers honoured by Career Ready at its first ever awards evening in Canary Wharf, London. More than 100 students, teachers and employers from across the UK gathered to celebrate excellence in employer engagement and recognise talented young members of the workforce and future industry leaders.

Angelika was presented with her trophy by Thomas Todd from Citi bank, which sponsored the award.

 

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