A dual enrolment student graduating from the Bermuda College has set his sights on a highflying career as an actuary.

Kallan Richardson, 16, has completed two years of an Associate in Actuarial Science at the college and will be transferring with advanced standing to pursue a bachelor's degree at St John’s University, New York, this autumn.

He will join his fellow graduates at the spring commencement ceremony taking place at the Bermuda College today.

Kallan, who has an overall GPA grade of 3.5 and had only a week’s break between taking his final exam last Monday and beginning his internship with Arch Reinsurance, said: “I have always enjoyed mathematics and this profession will be heavily involved in that aspect. That is one of the main things that drew me to it.

“When I was younger, I wanted to be an accountant because my dad’s an accountant but I was exposed to the actuarial profession and I decided it was something that might interest me. I decided to pursue that and now I am interning at Arch, which is allowing me to learn first-hand from actuaries.”

Kallan said that his parents Anthony and Holly Richardson had instilled a strong work ethic in him from a young age. Along with his father’s expertise in accountancy, his mother was his primary school principal at Port Royal Primary School.

He said: “Both my parents have always encouraged me to do well in school. They always encouraged me to do my best.

“You need to put in the hard work and make sure that you spend enough time understanding and learning the material, especially with maths. You can’t just memorise so you have to learn the formulae and the process so you can figure out how to apply the formula to every question.

“That is the main thing you have to focus on – spending the time and doing the practice so you can get a good feel for it.”

Kallan is keeping his options open but said he would eventually like to return to Bermuda to make a contribution on home soil.

He added: “I enjoyed my time at Bermuda College and this programme has definitely helped me out.

“I’m also enjoying my internship with Arch. It’s good to get practical experience and to be able to see how things l have been learning at school are applied. It’s good to get some hands-on experience.

“I would love to come back to Bermuda at some point but I am happy to take up options internationally.”