Davida Morris looked like she was bursting with pride as she walked towards Governor Sir John Vereker during yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony — and justifiably so.

The 25-year-old addictions counsellor could well be the youngest Senator the Island has ever had. After accepting the position and the role of Junior Minister at Government House she told The Royal Gazette<$>: “I am ecstatically happy.”

Miss Morris, from Paget, said she thought it was “most likely” that she was Bermuda’s youngest-ever member of the Senate. “No one has said that they know of anyone who has been younger than me,” she said.

She hopes that youthfulness will help to bring new life and vitality to the Senate — an institution not normally associated with young people.

“For one thing, age really is a state of mind,” she said. “I know what my strengths are. The Premier obviously knows what my strengths are. For me, I also want to change that perception of the Senate.”

She said her appointment “sent a strong message to the youth of Bermuda that we can do whatever we set our minds to”.

She added: “It sends a clear message that we have a voice and we have a right to be heard.”

Miss Morris, chairman of Progressive Minds, the youth wing of the Progressive Labour Party, believes her generation needs to get more involved in politics.

“First and foremost I find a lot of young people are apathetic to politics in general,” she said. “Once you hit 18 you might be young but you are an adult. You have the right to vote.”

Miss Morris, a Berkeley Institute and Bermuda College graduate, said her response to Dr. Ewart Brown when he asked her to take up the post of Junior Minister was: “Yes, definitely.”

“My background is in sociology and psychology,” she said. “It’s my intention to bring my understanding of the society that we have in order to improve social situations. That’s my particular strength, definitely.

“I will continue to do what I was doing all this time, which is working.”

Senate President Alf Oughton said Miss Morris was the youngest Senator to be appointed during his 13 years in the upper chamber.

He said he welcomed her appointment and that of his next-door neighbour Wayne Caines, 35, and Kim Wilson, 43.

“I’m a great believer in young blood,” he said. “They all look as though they have the makings of being useful contributors to the debate. I think it’s good.”

New Minister of Social Rehabilitation Dale Butler said: “I am very, very excited to see Miss Davida Morris — who’s been a firebrand in the youth wing — in the Senate already.

“I think that sends a clear message to the young people of Bermuda.”