This is the second in a two-part series on how Akilah Wilson achieved her dreams in the insurance industry against heavy odds.

Akilah Wilson's efforts paid off when in November, 2000, she was given a six-week trial position in the Insurance Division of the Registrar of Companies.

Registrar of Companies Jeremy Cox brought her into the division, telling her she would have six weeks to prove that she was capable of handling the position.

After her six- week trial period, Jeremy Cox and Shelby Weldon offered her a full-time position and in April of 2001, Akilah finally reached the position of Trainee Technical Officer.

Akilah, reaching the point of total exhaustion, graduated from the Bermuda College with Distinction in May 2002.

She was also awarded the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies plaque for most outstanding student.

She was totally surprised by the award but felt that after all her hard work, it was well deserved.

She says she felt like she was in a dream when she accepted the award because not only had she made it through the Bermuda College while working full-time, she was being rewarded as the most outstanding student. Only two years earlier, she had no financial means.

But when she looks back, she realises it was because of her lack of finances that she was compelled to keep her grades up.

She recognised early that if she did not keep her grades up, she would not be able to keep her scholarship and if she did not keep her scholarship, she would not be able to better herself because there was no one who was going to bail her out.

So the only way to keep her grades up was to apply herself.

Akilah finds the key to schooling for her is to do everything that is required.

Akilah says there was also another goal that was driving her to keep her grades up and that was to win the ACE scholarship.

When she originally applied for it in 2000, she only had high school grades, no community service and no worldly experience.

Now she was well equipped to apply.

Feeling she was more than qualified for the ACE scholarship having excellent grades, community service under her belt and a much better resume, Akilah applied for the ACE scholarship and all of the others that were available.

Akilah says she decided to attend the College of Insurance in New York because of her close association with the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies (BFIS).

It was through BFIS that she was introduced to the College of Insurance and began to receive invitations to the cocktail parties and other functions they had.

These networking functions allowed her the opportunity to meet many of the movers and shakers in the industry.

She felt with this networking behind her, when she applied for scholarships she had a better chance of succeeding because her name would be known to those reviewing the applications.

After applying for the scholarships, Akilah was afforded another invaluable opportunity when she was invited by Cathy Lapsley at BFIS to work with the Katie School of Insurance, affiliated with the University of Illinois, on their project in Bermuda to determine why so many companies had selected Bermuda as their headquarters. Akilah says she was selected because of her affiliation with BFIS, the fact that she worked with the Registrar's Office and her enthusiasm for insurance.

Through this project, Akilah was able to speak with many people in the industry getting her name out there even more.

After months of waiting, Akilah finally was called by ACE to come in for an interview. She had made the short list! Then a few weeks later she was called in again.

But this time when she got there, she was told she had won the ACE scholarship!

After two years of hard work, sacrifice and no life, her dream had come true. Her hard work had paid off.

She says when she mailed in her application for the ACE application she claimed the scholarship as hers.

And finally her claim had come true.

She was excited, relieved, shocked and did not know what to do because the ACE scholarship had taken away all of her financial burden to attend the College of Insurance in New York.

For the first time in her post high school life, she would be able to attend university without having to worry about whether she had enough money to make it. She could just concentrate on studying.

Akilah was also depressed because she had to turn down the BFIS and Chamber of Commerce Scholarship because she had been awarded the ACE scholarship.

She began to wonder if she was dreaming because after years of being rejected, she was now turning scholarships and other opportunities down.

She was in control of her life because she stopped being a victim and realised that the only way to succeed is to work extremely hard and the rewards come.

Akilah says maybe it's because she has always been haunted by a lack of security and no foundation that she is pushed to succeed.

She feels all the things she is achieving now are helping her to feel a little bit more secure about her place in society.

She has an aunt that has helped her as much as she could but the rest has been up to her.

Akilah Wilson left Bermuda on August 26, 2002 to attend the College of Insurance, now known as St. John's University, in New York for two years to complete her Bachelor's Degree of Science in Insurance and Risk Management.

To say, I am proud of her is an understatement.

My heart always swells when I come across people, particularly young people, like Akilah.

Akilah is a testament to the fact that if we have the desire to succeed and the willingness to work hard, we can open the doors to opportunity very easily and it doesn't matter where we come from.

Congratulations Akilah and always do as the motto of our alma mater, the Berkeley Institute, says, Respice Finem, Keep the end in view...

Cathy Duffy is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and is now a freelance writer. She is a former executive of Zurich Global Energy and has 15 years experience in the insurance industry. She writes on insurance issues in The Royal Gazette every Monday (it is appearing today, since Monday was a holiday). Feedback crduffy@cwbda.bm