Caroline Fortin-Thomas is married and is looking for a career change. Jahi Simmons wants to be a third-generation plumber. Jamel Stafford plans to eventually attend a top-notch cooking school.

These three young people all have different goals but one thing in common – they all are using the Bermuda College to make their dreams a reality.

This fall the Bermuda College launched its annual recruitment drive and these days, it's hard to think of a good excuse for not going to college.

The College is now offering countless incentives – free tuition, a free laptop with on-campus wireless access, a range of educational opportunities, a campus almost entirely accessible to the physically handicapped and connections to universities abroad.

To see behind the scenes, Royal Gazette Lifestyle reporter Jessie Moniz took one of the tours the College offers to members of the public.

Tour leader was Bermuda College graduate Russell Richardson, who is today its manager of security and safety.

His three children are also graduates.

"One of my children is a teacher and the other two are accountants," he said.

The College has grown considerably since Mr. Richardson's studying days. It was started in 1974 after a merging of several other education institutions. The first building, South Hall, was meant to be a companion to the Stonington Beach Hotel, today Coco Reef Resort.

It now boasts several buildings and has facilities for plumbing, air conditioning, carpentry, culinary arts, a library, two lecture theatres, a cafeteria, the state-of-the art Corange science laboratory and much more.

It has connections with many universities abroad including St. George's University in the West Indies, Mount St. Vincent and St. Mary's in Canada, and University of Kent Law School.

It is also home to a number of community projects and programmes including the Seniors' Learning Centre and the Bermuda Youth Jazz Ensemble. Its 'Blue Room' is often the site of important community arbitration.

When we visited the culinary arts section of the college, students were just finishing up a module involving international cuisine.

On this day students – ranging from teenagers to adults – were encouraged to bring in their own recipes.

"It has actually been easier as a mature student," said Mrs. Fortin-Thomas, 27.

"My first time in college I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Knowing now what I want to do and having the passion and drive makes it easier for me."

She previously studied commerce and tourism in Canada, but found job opportunities in this field limited in Toronto.

"I married a Bermudian," she said. "Coming to Bermuda gave me a chance to reevaluate what I wanted to do."

She found the instruction at the Bermuda College to be very good, but she said not all her fellow students had stayed the course.

"We started off with eight students and now we are down to three," she said.

"I think for many of us it is exactly what we thought it would be, but for others it wasn't. I think some people thought it would be a lot more eating and a lot less work."

Next door, a larger group of first year students were working in a newly renovated kitchen.

"This is a very structured programme," said culinary arts instructor Peter Lorenz. "These students are making Cornish game hen. Today they are making a sauce and stuffing to go with it. They are learning things like how to debone a bird."

Mr. Stafford said he was pleased with the hands-on nature of the course.

"When I started I didn't think we'd be cooking right away, but we started right off the bat," the 18 year old said. "I think it is nice to get your hands dirty."

Mr. Stafford said he came just in time for the free tuition that went into effect recently.

"It is helping me save for when I go away to Rhode Island," he said. "I am hoping to go to Johnson and Wales University."

Mr. Lorenz said that most of the culinary arts students go on to get jobs in the industry, or go on to take their education further. "A lot of them like to study pastry," he said.

Mr. Lorenz said the quality of instruction is important in a university, but so is the eagerness of the students.

"As a student, you have to be motivated," he said. "Sometimes people make excuses. They don't have the proper instruction method; you can't do this... You can't really motivate them if they don't really want to do it.

"If you just come here to cook macaroni and cheese and cookies it is not going to work. We have 32 modules and it is not just all hands on."

Mr. Lorenz said there was a lot of theory work to the course.

"If you don't lay the theoretical foundation then they will fall by the way side," he said.

In the Applied Sciences Division of the Bermuda College, we were greeted by Llewellyn Trott, associate vice president and division head.

In a series of shed-like buildings students learned masonry and welding, air conditioning , plumbing, electrical wiring, carpentry, automotive repair and other trades.

Many of the programmes here were woefully undersubscribed. Carpentry had student numbers in the single digits. There were 11 automotive student and 17 plumbing students. The most popular programme was electrical wiring, with 31 students.

Several of the buildings in this section were under reconstruction. The renovations include the creation of five classrooms and three offices and the upgrade of two offices. The hoped for completion date is July 2009.

"I think people are not signing up for the programmes in the numbers we would expect because there is so much construction going on in the country right now," said Mr. Trott. "People are more interested in making money."

He said there was also a negative attitude about working in a trade.

"Bermuda also tends to look down on blue-collar workers, and that has to change. Any legal job is a good job. That is how I look at it. It is not what you do, but how well you do it."

Many of the programmes here, such as the carpentry programme, require certain prerequisites which are offered at the highschool level – at CedarBridge Academy and the Berkeley Institute.

Plumbing instructor Gladwin Trott said students are also taken out into the field to work in real situations.

"We can handle every phase of plumbing," said Mr. Trott. "We take them out on jobs and get them to do real work in real life situations."

Said Mr. Simmons, an aspiring plumber: "I have always wanted to do this. My father and grandfather are both plumbers. My father studied at the Bermuda College."

The 18 year old said he hoped to one day start his own business.

Automotive instructor Ellsworth Lovell admitted his area faced some challenges. "We are trying to get more up-to-date equipment," he said. "Our main challenge is getting industry support."

He said most of the vehicles students have to work with are 15 to 20 years' old.

"We need to have some vehicles that are fully mobile," he said. "In the past we have had some companies give us vehicles, but they are write-offs and can't be driven.

"We really couldn't move them. The only dealer that has given us vehicles is Peugeot. Also, Stevedoring Services gave us a diesel engine last year."

Despite the challenges of the programme, graduates worked in automotive repair all over the island including HWP, Eurocar, the Bus Terminal and the Department of Works & Engineering.

And Mr. Lovell said some of his students achieved international certification at the College, or went away to carry on their education.

"We just had two students who were successful with their City & Guilds examinations," he said. "The primary certification is the Automotive Service Excellence. That is out of the United States, but they can sit the City & Guilds going through that particular programme."

The Bermuda College is adding new programmes all the time. Recent additions include music and nursing programmes.

The institution is hoping to share additional information on its programmes with the public during a radio show scheduled each Tuesday through the end of November, and a travelling programme, BC Travel Light Fair. The mobile fair next stops at the Bermuda Institute, on October 30. November 1 is the registration deadline for College programmes. For information on recruitment initiatives contact Cha'Von Clarke on 239-4099 or e-mail cclarke@college.bm.

For information on the programmes and courses offered at the College, visit www.bercol.bm.