Timothy Johnson began volunteering at the Museum in January 2021. We are so fortunate to have wonderful volunteers, like Timothy, at the front desk who set a positive and welcoming tone for our visitors. We appreciated Timothy’s eagerness to learn and support Museum operations. This fall, we held a training for volunteer guides to learn how to lead our “Journey to Pikes Peak” Saturday tours. Timothy quickly jumped at the opportunity and has taken on many tours over the past few months.
We were impressed with Timothy's positive attitude and passion for history from day one. It was such a pleasure working with him throughout the training session and while prepping his tour. He brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to each and every tour, which I know our guests appreciate.
Making the decision to volunteer with the CSPM was an easy one for Timothy, “I majored in history in college, so this felt like a great opportunity to put my education and background to good use. I was also looking for a chance to get more involved in the community as the lockdown seemed to be coming to an end and I felt okay being out in public. ” Timothy also shared that he has enjoyed working with the museum staff and has benefitted from the experience as he has improved both his interpersonal and public speaking skills.
Timothy leading a Saturday “Journey to Pikes Peak” tour .
Timothy was one of many volunteers who made the Museum’s involvement in this summer’s COS 150 Downtown Festival a great success, “It was quite the day! We had over ten times our normal number of guests on a given Saturday which was a challenging yet rewarding experience while volunteering.” In addition to his volunteer role during major events, Timothy also enjoys interpreting the Helen Hunt Jackson house, “I like to challenge guests to look for objects in the house that help tell her story with little to no input from me until the guests are done sharing. I do this because it’s similar to the kind of research I did in college and that professional historians do in which it is the job of the historian to collect evidence from historical archives and interpret the findings to answer a deeper “why” or “how” question.”
As Timothy’s time in Colorado Springs comes to an end, we are thrilled to use this opportunity to share our gratitude for his service and honor him as the October Volunteer of the month. While his plans are still up in the air, he hopes he will be transferred closer to family in Seattle, “I am an active duty Army Officer currently stationed at Fort Carson; prior to arriving here I served for a year in Korea. My parents live in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area while my sister lives with her fiancé (husband at the end of the month!) in Seattle.”
