Although influences passed from one youth to another can be negative, students from the Bermuda Institute and CedarBridge Academy have proven that older youth can influence the younger ones positively. A team from each school recently received a handsome reward for their efforts.

Capital G Bank challenged high schools in Bermuda to develop a giving plan and labelled it "Youth Give – Empowering Bermuda's Next Generation"; the winning finalist would receive $5,000 to donate to a group of their choice or to develop their own plan further. The presentations were made on last Friday in the Gazebo Lounge at the Fairmount Hamilton Princess.

The presentations were judged by James Gibbons from Capital G Bank, Peter Carey, director of Development at The Family Centre, and Pamela Barrit-Nolan representing The Centre on Philanthropy. Mr. Gibbons noted that he wanted the youth to "Reveal their capacity to do good".

The Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation, Neletha Butterfield; Permanent Secretary of Education, Kevin Monkman; Wendy McDonnell, Acting Commissioner of Education; MP Ashfield DeVent,and school principals, teachers, parents and friends were also present.

'One you, One child, One generation, One community' was the theme that CedarBridge Academy adopted. Presented by eight students, the project was aimed to provide a safe and fun environment for Prospect Primary students at risk to anti-social behaviour. The programme ran on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. with transportation home provided.

The 19 Prospect Primary students that were in the programme were selected by the principal at the school, with the green light from the parents of the selected students. The project focused on help with homework and social problems through one-on-one sessions. There were also group activities like art and craft to help build teamwork and healthy snacks were provided; they also had events on weekends. They funded their project through 'drop a coin' campaigns and bake sales. The CedarBridge students will follow the kids up into middle school.

ASC³ (pronounced as-cubed) was the name of Bermuda Institute's group and consisted of five people, with their presentation missing two people. Their programme would also run every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:45 p.m. and finish at 5:30p.m. They covered the theme 'Making a difference – One child at a time' by mentoring middle school students in their school. In their project, they exercised one-on-one mentoring with the students to build trust in their relationship, tracking the student's academic performance, and management skills with students. The outcome of the project saw students improving academically and being less likely to associate themselves in negative behaviour. ASC³ raised funds by selling pencils made out of recycled newspaper.

The judges were very impressed by the determination and care students from both schools put forth in the project. The judges sincerely hoped that the students would try to sustain these schemes in their schools. When all was said and done, the judges had a hard decision to make because both teams did so very well in their presentations. Both missed certain criteria in their presentations; in spite of this, the judges doubled the reward and sent home both teams with a $5,000 a piece.