Parish Councils across the island provide beneficial services to help foster good relations within their community. Several Parish Councils provide scholarships and bursaries, which are available to their constituents to help them reach their educational goals.
The Parish Councils for Devonshire, Paget, Pembroke, Hamilton, St. George’s and Warwick currently have scholarships, bursaries or grants available for students who submit applications for 2024. Parish councils were created to help their surrounding community, and each council’s scholarship committee objective is to provide funding to assist students to reach their career goals.
For some, the funds are provided to help pay for tuition, while others allow for the funds to be put towards other financial needs including transportation, room and board, or required materials such as textbooks.
While each parish has its own criteria, they all require that applicants have lived in the parish for at least five years. Students should also show a demonstrated involvement in the community and show how their education will help them to give back to their parish and the community at large.
Many of the past scholarship awardees have gone on to give back to their parish community either as part of businesses and organisations in the area or by returning as a council member. Denae Burchall, chairwoman of the Devonshire Parish Council, noted that scholarship awardees that have been selected since 2011 have gone onto become educators, lawyers, social workers, accountants and architects, to name a few.
“Our scholars exhibit a profound commitment to Devonshire, valuing everything from our natural reserves to our educational institutions to our small businesses,” said Ms Burchall. “They demonstrate a deep appreciation for their neighbourhood and consistently seek opportunities to strengthen their connection to it. Each of these individuals represents a success story that fills us with pride.”
“One particularly touching narrative is that of Lateefah Caines, who was a scholarship recipient in 2015,” she said. “Lateefah not only excelled academically but also returned to the Devonshire Parish Council to serve as assistant secretary and chair of the Scholarship Committee. This full-circle journey exemplifies the genuine purpose of our scholarship programme—to empower and inspire individuals to not only succeed in their chosen fields but also to contribute meaningfully to the Devonshire community and, in turn, to the council that supported them.”
Each of the parish councils, including the Devonshire Parish Council Scholarship committee, are looking for students with a proven record of academic excellence and those with financial needs, noting the financial burden that education can carry for many.
The councils provide funding to students no matter their area of study and there are scholarships for both overseas education and for students planning to study at the Bermuda College.
The Pembroke Parish Council specifically awards their scholarships for Bermuda College students. One scholarship in the amount of $6,000 and four grants in the amount of $1,500.
All of the information for each scholarship can be found on the bermudascholarships.com website, which includes specific details for each parish as well as eligibility criteria.
