From writing a children’s book about the joys of underwater exploration, to revamping a website for children with learning challenges the Island’s students got busy giving hours of their time to community service projects.Eight schools took part in the seventh annual PartnerRe Dollars for Hours scheme, which saw students help in environment, arts, health and education projects.In turn, the schools were awarded $30,000 each to put towards curriculum development, classroom resources, bursary and scholarship funds, extra-curricular activity support, student incentive programs, IT equipment and infrastructure projects.Bermuda Institute paired up with the Bermuda National Trust to remove invasive plant species from Tivoli Nature Reserve. Saltus and Greenrock worked together to create a community garden at WindReach.Students at CedarBridge Academy learned about the importance of ecological preservation and completed a woodland restoration project with the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. They removed scores of invasive casuarinas, Mexican peppers and seaside daisies from a woodland area and collected trash and plastic off a beach.Niambi Landy, an S2 student, said she was more well informed about environmental issues after taking part in the project. “The best part of the experience for me was learning that Bermuda has a lot to do with the Sargasso Sea,” she explained.“A lot of the plastics in it are washed up on our beaches and Bermuda is trying to get the rest of the world involved so they know not to dump plastics into the ocean.”Brianna Pacheco, 15, said the most challenging part of the afternoon was taking out cane grass, which was tedious to remove. The best part was getting to know some of her peers in a new way. “I actually felt closer to the people that I never knew before in the classroom,” she added.Meanwhile, students at Somersfield Academy helped improve the Reading Clinic’s website.Thirteen-year-old Hana Bushara said: “We went on the website to see they had a very organised and formal website and we wanted to make it more child-friendly.“So we looked at the different aspects, like the colours and themes, and we researched different spelling, math and reading games. We also researched learning difficulties like dyslexia and dyscalculia and looked at games that people with learning difficulties liked to play, such as interactive games with rewards.”They then tested those games with primary students at their school, to narrow down the best activities for learning, explained Leah Smith.Marcus Bassett said: “I think the best part was just having the opportunity to help a professional company because they help kids and generally we love kids. Overall it was fun to just help out with it and it was a good experience.”Hana said the end result of the practice website was “ten times better” and is still being considered for approval by the Reading Clinic.She said she hoped young people would have a better learning experience, both at the clinic and while practicing at home.Classmate Donovan Stubbs said he was happy to know others might benefit from their work. “Hopefully we will be able to help younger children that have difficulties with reading and math so hopefully it will be rewarding for them, so it’s a good feeling for us.”Other projects included a health and exercise-based programme to promote jump roping. Jump to be Fit was a joint effort between Warwick Academy and the Bermuda Heart Foundation.Year 12 students Lauren De Verteuil and Jazmyne Watson explained that jump rope was one of the best exercises people could do for cardio. The girls said it was also fun teaching young people about new and different jumping tricks.Jazmyne said: “Jumping rope is even better than running for cardio and there’s definitely a problem with obesity and unhealthy youth, so if you can teach kids to jump rope and we can enjoy it, it’s the greatest thing they can do for their health.”Bermuda High School students spent time constructing 18 bluebird boxes for the Bermuda Audubon Society. They also packaged another 50 boxes to make it easier for people to assemble their own at home.Caitlin Hyland said a woman from the charity discussed the importance of the project with students beforehand. “It made a lot of us more eager to help because we learned how the [blue birds] were getting attacked by other birds and they didn’t have a place to live.”The Berkeley Institute students spent one weekend each month since the start of the school year, helping out with a free family arts and crafts day at the Masterworks Museum.Brittany Haley, 16, said she learned the importance of families spending time together. She said it was also nice to see mothers and grandparents bringing their children out to take part in arts and craft activities together.One of the more innovative projects was completed by Mount Saint Agnes students, who designed a children’s activity book for the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.Thirty-four students were able to explore the BUEI facility for themselves, including the different shells and underwater suits used in submarine diving. They then wrote about what they learned.Some of their designs may be used in an upcoming children’s activity book highlighting the institute’s mission, according to MSA’s director of development, Coral Wells.Ms Wells said: “You know, I think the students during the day, we spent the full day at BUEI and they did a great job of researching and helped with putting the product together.“I think it’s a good end result and it’s a bit different from the activity books put out there [from other organisations],” she explained.Dollars for Hours is one of PartnerRe’s major contributions to education in Bermuda. The organisation believes that helping to maintain and improve the quality of education on the Island “is the single most important thing we can do as a Bermudian company”.The scheme has seen more than 1,200 students from eight secondary schools donate over 13,000 hours of hands-on support to local charities. To date the project has garnered nearly $1.5 million for local schools.