Two local students will get first-hand experience with insurance and reinsurance, thanks to an eight to ten-week summer internship offered by Hamilton Re, the Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance platform for Hamilton Insurance Group.

Hamilton today announced that Brianna Mendes and Amon Wedderburn, will be their 2019 summer interns. They will spend the coming weeks learning about Hamilton Re’s various departments, including catastrophe modelling, actuarial science, business intelligence, and direct and facultative reinsurance.

The aim of the internship is twofold: to expose students to the multitude of career options available in the sector and to increase the pool of qualified Bermudians entering the insurance and reinsurance arena.

Hamilton Re began inviting local students to apply for its 2019 summer internship programme in December, with close to 40 applications pouring in from interested students.

Susan Smith, vice-president of catastrophe modelling and co-ordinator of Hamilton Re’s internship programme, said that Miss Mendes and Mr Wedderburn were selected due to their enthusiasm and keen desire to learn more.

“This internship will offer them in-depth knowledge of the insurance and reinsurance industry, as well as a solid framework from which to grow their career,” Ms Smith said. “While many young people have only heard of underwriting as a job option, our mission is to show our interns the many other career pathways possible in the industry.”

Ms Smith has helped to co-ordinate Hamilton’s internship programme for the past five years and so far, three of those summer students have gone on to be hired full time at Hamilton.

“It is rewarding to see how this internship prepares young people for life after college,” she said. “It also brings me great satisfaction to see students successfully complete our summer programme and go on to flourish in their careers at Hamilton or other reinsurance firms locally and internationally.”

This summer was Mr Wedderburn’s third time as an intern with Hamilton.

“It’s a privilege to once again be selected for this internship at Hamilton Re,” he said. “Last summer I learnt a great deal about the insurance and reinsurance industries and greatly appreciated the amount of time and energy the team at Hamilton poured into my growth and development.

“After graduating in 2020, I’m looking into perhaps becoming an underwriter and with this internship experience under my belt, I feel like I’ll have a competitive edge over some of my peers when it comes to seeking employment and diving straight into a career.”

Miss Mendes, is a Bermuda High School graduate, studying commerce and maths at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. She was honoured to be selected for the internship at Hamilton Re.

“Bermuda has a pretty big pool of young people who are qualified and eager to get a foot in the reinsurance industry door,” she said. “So to know that my application, references and experience stood out from that pool and that Hamilton saw something in me worth investing in, that is really quite encouraging.”

Mr Wedderburn, a Berkeley Institute graduate, is studying towards an undergraduate degree in risk management and insurance at St John’s University in New York. Both students are due to graduate in the spring of 2020.

For more information see www.hamiltongroup.com, @HamiltonInsures on Twitter or www.linkedin.com/company/hamilton-insurance-group on LinkedIn.