Bermuda College students and graduates received new scholarships and awards at the annual convocation.

Chairman of the College's Board of Governor's Randolph Horton announced three new scholarships and awards in honour of the College's 25th anniversary, as many of the more than 1,000 full-time students looked on.

Outgoing student government president Kenneth Caesar was announced as the first Board of Governor's Silver Jubilee Scholarship recipient.

The scholarship is funded from the fees normally paid to the Board of Governors for attending meetings.

Several 25th Anniversary Scholarships were directed toward mature students to encourage them during their second year at the College, to offset their costs and encourage greater diversity in the student body. The Going for the Gold Excellence Award will be granted to the incoming high school graduate for the next 25 years with the best all-round qualities of scholarship, character, leadership, and community activities.

That student's first year's tuition will be paid by the scholarship.

During the ceremony College president George Cook advised freshman students to take full advantage of opportunities provided at the Paget campus so they could contribute to the Island's future.

"There is one fundamentally different feature that distinguishes this year from every preceding year. That is the potential impact which the phenomenon known as e-commerce will have on this community. The potential for Bermuda and for each of you is momentous.'' Dr. Cook reminded students the College guarantees them in 60 credit certificate programmes that if they graduate and are not successful in finding employment after six months in their field, they can return free of charge for six more credits.

"Your convocation today is special because you have entered the College's community during the year of celebration and anticipation of what the future holds in store,'' he added.

WEATHER WEA