If you’re an outstanding young man on your way through middle or high school, keep your eyes open for the opportunity to be apart of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc, programme, the Alpha Beautillion.

“In September of the year prior to the Beautillion, every high school in Bermuda is approached and asked to nominate a single young man for our programme,” says president and member of the fraternity’s Epsilon Theta Lamda chapter, Diallo Rabain. “Any young man is eligible and nominations are not limited to the mainstream schools.”

The Alpha Beautillion, which is in it’s sixth year, is viewed as a “Rite of Passage” for young males who are finishing high school and moving on to post secondary education. It focuses on teaching responsibilities and life lessons that can be used when participants leave home.

“The purpose is to instil pride and a sense of community awareness in the Beaus,” he explains. We hope to leave them with life skills that they can take on to the next stage of their lives.”

Monetary bursaries are issued to the participants, with the winner earning $5,000, second place getting $3,000 and third getting $2,000: “All participants will be awarded at least $1,000 for taking part and finishing the programme.”

In addition to the bursary awards, all participants are flown to New York in July to take part in the fraternity’s Leadership Development Institute, where they will join about 50 other young men and learn things from dressing for success and business etiquette to conflict resolution and team building.

“The Beaus are judged by two criteria - they’re pre-judged by their performance leading up to the actual Beautillion programme; this score is based on tasks assigned including essay writing, community services, assisting with our various after school programmes and other chapter initiatives, and attendance of resume writing skills workshops in the six months prior to the night of the Beautillion,” Mr. Rabain explains. “On the night of the Beautillion, the beaus are judged on the oratorical skills, talents, and a question and answer session.”

The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. are also involved in a handful of other programmes in the community, including their Math Attack programme that is run at Dellwood Middle School every Thursday and aims to teach young “Dells” how to manipulate math problems in their heads as a way of helping them to gain confidence to solve their problems in school and in life, Boy Scouts, Project Alpha, a national programme that provides young men with the knowledge of responsible sexual behaviour (“While we maintain that abstinence is the only form of safe sex, we use these sessions to provide a comfortable and open environment to encourage dialogue between the young men,” Mr. Rabain says.), Voteless People is a Hopeless People, and a mentoring programme at the Co-Ed facility. “The purpose of all our programmes is to serve a demographic we feel is often under-served in Bermuda - young males,” Mr. Rabain maintains. “By providing programmes for the young men and showing them examples of successful men of all ages, we hope to inspire them to achieve more than they thought was possible.”