Twenty pupils from Somersfield Academy joined forces yesterday with the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) to help preserve the Island's native and endemic plant species.

It is the second time the school has taken part in the "Dollars For Hours: Youth and Community in Partnership" project, organised by reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd. with the aim to "pay it forward".

This year, PartnerRe will donate a total of $160,000, divided equally among eight schools, with the requirement that each school team donate 1,600 hours of their free time in the name of charity.

The M2 to M3 youngsters spent an entire day at Ferry Reach Park in the vicinity of Lovers Lake, conducting a woodlands restoration project, along with BIOS staff.

J.P. Skinner, an Education Officer at BIOS explained: "This is the second year we've worked on this particular project with the children, last year we pioneered this particular site for restoration. This year we continued on, looking at the trees that we planted last year, checking their health and putting some more in as well. We were removing a lot of the invasive species such as Mexican pepper plants, asparagus and casuarina.

"Last week I went to the school to give a presentation on bio diversity which reinforces their curriculum – they've been studying this in the classroom."

Depending on the response of this year's initiative, which started last year, PartnerRe will decide wether or not to continue it again next year, CEO Patrick Thiele stated.

Providing multiline reinsurance to insurance companies globally, PartnerRe, through its subsidiaries, operates alternative risk products that include weather and credit protection, including financial and industrial services. The company's total revenues last December were $4.2 billion and had $15.7 billion in total assets.

This year, groups of pupils aged 14 to 18 from CedarBridge, Saltus, Somersfield, Berkeley, BHS, Bermuda Institute, Warwick Academy and Mount Saint Agnes are taking part in the scheme.

Charities involved are — Bermuda National Trust, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), The Sunshine League, Bermuda Audubon Society, WindReach Recreational Village, Hope Homes, Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre and PRIDE Bermuda.

"We thought that the combination of the community," Mr. Thiele commented when PartnerRe launched the initiative recently, "as represented by the various charities and education system, would in fact 'pay it forward' — you get a double and positive impact.

"Education is important to PartnerRe and as a Bermudian company staffed primarily by Bermudians, we have a real interest in Bermuda, its people and in particular, its young people."

Somersfield Academy Development Director, Andy Burnett-Herkes said the project was a practical fit with the school's dedication to community service in addition to academia.

"From the science point of view, we look as it as an opportunity to put into practice what the students are learning in the classroom.

"Our younger students said 'wow, when we grow up we get to do that too,' when first introduced to the curriculum."

Today, a Warwick Academy team will partner with the National Trust to clear Spittal Pond of invasive species, followed by a building painting and garden clean-up of Hope Homes by the Bermuda Institute on Sunday.