Two years ago Alex Odoli was happy working a dead end job and dropping out of the Bermuda College, but now he works at Café Gio and plans to complete his Associates Degree in Information Technology in the near future.

He credits the Government's Mirrors Programme for turning his life around and helping him find his drive to succeed.

"I wasn't really doing much with my life," he said. "I didn't really care about anything. I was having trouble staying on a path and my mom suggested I get involved in Mirrors and I am glad I listened to her. It has taught me about my inner strength, something I didn't know I had. It has made me stay on this path and want to go to school.

"It has taught me to really deal with issues in life instead of doing nothing about it and then the issues flare up in other areas of your life."

Mr. Odoli was one of 28 graduates who completed the Mirrors programme and graduated on Saturday night. Minister of Social Rehabilitation Neletha Butterfield and Deputy Premier Paula Cox and Senator Marc Bean attended the completion ceremony at the Willowbank Resort.

Mr. Odoli said the group had completed a six-day residential camp and a nine-month programme where they met with mentors weekly and met as a group once a month.

The team work approach to the programme was a big plus, Mr. Odoli said: "The people I completed this programme with will be friends for life, I would call them family. We all know so much about each other and have seen each other grow."

Mr. Odoli won the Responsibility Award as well as the Premier's Award for showing commitment to the programme and being its 'most valuable player'.

He recommended the programme to others: "If you are thinking about it, do it.

"It was not my intention to do the programme in the beginning but it is totally voluntary so you have to choose to stick with it. It is a worthwhile experience, at first it did not seem like it would be but the follow up is really good. I have learnt so much about myself and now am on the right path."

Sen. Bean said: "Like all the delegates, Alex, through his dedication to the programme, has proven that the greatest service that we as a government can do for the people, is to help them help themselves.

"It is my hope that all of them will take heed to the words expressed by the guest speaker, Marc Daniels, who said that by knowing oneself, they will know their purpose, and thus become the masters of their own destiny. By discipline and self control, each will be able to control their environment, instead of being shaped by it."

l Anyone interested in being involved in the next session of the Mirrors programme in November should contact Jamaine Tucker at 2949291 or mirrors@gov.bm.