A fortuitous gust of wind blew several hapless mariners ashore 400 years ago and the Bermuda story of trial, tempest and triumph was born. With the official opening of our World Heritage Centre, we have reached a milestone in a journey that dodged many reefs along the way, but we stayed the course. This momentous opening is evidence of the tireless efforts of many people.

The St. George's Foundation World Heritage Centre (WHC) will simultaneously serve a diversity of users. Bermuda will be among a select few UK World Heritage Sites that has a Centre where people can engage in and explore the world our heritage has created.

The St. George's Foundation has benefited from key partnerships with the broader community. The Ministry of Education has been a central and steadfast supporter of our work and this bodes well for the health of our initiatives. A good example of this is the UK World Heritage Education programme "World Heritage in Young Hands." The aim of this three-year programme is to incorporate World Heritage Education in the local curriculum. We will continue to work with the Ministry of Education on an upcoming project that will model educational possibilities for other World Heritage Sites.

Programmatically, 'World Heritage in Young Hands' will evolve into a local offering called 'World Heritage Day.' Through visual displays, students' practical knowledge of our World Heritage Site will be demonstrated. The programme is open to all grade levels. Students will be encouraged to use a variety of media including print, poetry, song, podcast, video, and photography to highlight the place that our World Heritage Site plays in their understanding of history and culture. Students will showcase their work at the World Heritage Centre one day in May. We plan to institute the first World Heritage Day in 2010.

While we are excited about the future, we must also celebrate our most recent successes. At its root our work aims to plant seeds of historical curiosity in the minds and hearts of the next generation. We encourage students to add their voice, intellect and creativity to their unfolding self-discovery and sense of civic pride and responsibility. Our first foray into World Heritage Education sparked a healthy interest in Bermuda's students and I was excited that four ambassadors from the Berkeley Institute represented Bermuda at the recent UK World Heritage Education Youth Summit May 22 in Lyme Regis, UK.

We hope those waves of interest turn into rip tides of energetic enthusiasm that wash over the entire island and push us to greater depths of reflection about the meaning of Bermuda's heritage and our location within the greater global family. I am excited and most proud of our links to the Berkeley Institute through solid support from the Ministry of Education.

A second worthy highlight of The St. George's Foundation's work has been the fruitful interface between art and the study of history and culture. The "400 for the 400th International Student Art Exhibition," grew out of our summer collaborative with Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art, entitled 'RIP It: Bringing History to Life with Art.'

The phenomenal success of that programme spurred Carrie Zenti, Masterworks Education Coordinator, and myself to find ways to expand this offering to include more children. We thought this would be a first class way to celebrate Bermuda's 400th anniversary. Through our brainstorming we reached out to the Muscarelle Museum of Art (Williamsburg, VA) and the ACE Gallery and the "400 for the 400th International Student Art Exhibition," was born. Initially, we expected 400 artistically crafted historical postcards and planned to send 200 of them to Williamsburg, Virginia for a Special Exhibition. To our surprise we received more than 1,200 postcards, which are currently on display at the World Heritage Centre. We encourage everyone to visit the exhibit and see Bermuda's history through our children's eyes.We have sent 200 postcards to Williamsburg, Virginia for exhibition on August 3-23. They will come back to Bermuda in September when we will host a 'Return to Sender' party at the WHC for students' whose artwork was on international display. For a complete listing of those students visit www.stgeorgesfoundation.org or www.bermudamasterworks.com. Our work with students is only one component of our community educational outreach. However it is one of the most pleasing aspects of our work particularly when students express interest and appreciation for history. This summer's RIP It programme 'Bringing History to Life with Photography' makes this case. Most of our participants this summer were repeat students or siblings of students from last year. Kalin Williams, 13, stated "this is the best camp I've ever been to and it's only my second day…I love history!" The combination of history and technology is a vital component of our educational efforts. We encourage everyone to visit our website's stellar educational offerings which includes 'A Day in the Life' and the 'World Heritage Site (WHS) Digital Field Trip'. This year we incorporated a photographic journey of the summer's RIP It programme. Students aged 7-13 captured their version of Bermuda's 400th with special attention on the people, buildings and natural environments of St. George's.Our next step will be to translate these still images into film and share with parents, visitors, and tourists next summer when we host RIP It: 'Bringing History to Life with Film.' The Historic Town of St. George and its related Fortifications is indeed a jewel in Bermuda's crown. Visit the World Heritage Centre and together we will bask in her reflection!