Government Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown yesterday urged businesses throughout Bermuda to consider creating scholarships to improve the education of the Island's young people.

Dr. Brown was speaking as he presented Chanell Ingham with the inaugural scholarship set up by his medical practice, Bermuda Healthcare Services, on Harbour Road, Paget.

He and his colleagues at the clinic were so impressed by 20-year-old Chanell's commitment to juggling her work with taking part-time classes at Bermuda College that they decided to set up the scholarship.

Chanell, of Tribe Road Number 1, Warwick, will use the $1,500 scholarship to pay for her books and tuition fees for two semesters of morning classes at the college studying biology and sociology. She will continue to work at the surgery.

In two years at the surgery, Chanell has learned every aspect of the business from, reception work and appointments to billing customers.

Dr Brown said yesterday: "This is to reward a young lady who has mastered the basics of the workplace and to demonstrate that Bermudian businesses owe something to student development.

"It is also to support the chairman of the Bermuda College, Randolph Horton, in his request for business sector support.

"We also wanted to give back to a community which has supported this business through thick and thin.

"Chanell is a delightful young lady who has grown in front of our very eyes.

She has demonstrated that she knows the difference between work and play and understands that when she comes to us, she comes to work and not to get ready to go home.

"She'll get some financial relief and also a confidence boost to know that there are people who are observing her and seeing she is on the right track.

"It may also stimulate the interests of other young Bermudians and may increase the support of these students who are interested in health careers.'' Chanell said she was "very privileged and very excited now that my work has been appreciated. I hope it will help me further my education.'' The scholarship will be awarded annually to a young Bermudian working part-time who wants to study health-related subjects at the college.

Promoting the future: Dr Ewart Brown, MP, pictured with the executive director of his Bermuda Healthcare Services surgery, Antoinette Austin (right), presenting the practice's first annual Bermuda College scholarship to 20-year-old Chanell Ingham.