Belco provides college and university students the opportunity to participate in the company's annual Summer Student Programme.

This programme was established to provide students with an opportunity to contribute to the organisation's productivity, get exposure to new things, have a chance to gain valuable experience while accomplishing tasks and an opportunity to position themselves as shining stars for future employment with the company.

Potential summer students are selected from either Belco's scholarship recipients, the Bermuda College Summer Internship Programme, or according to Belco's Business Centre needs.

According to a Belco spokesperson, in order to succeed in the Program, an individual must possess discipline, respect for all, a positive work ethic and a strong sense of what they want to do for a career. Previous experience is an asset, but is not required.

So what does the Summer Student Programme involve?

Belco provides opportunities for students to work in numerous areas throughout the organisation. Each student is placed in a Business Center that best suits their current field of study.

These summer students participate in a summer student presentation which is a team-based project. The purpose of this presentation is to formally illustrate the Executive Team of the students' accomplishments and contributions to the Company. Of course summer students are competitively paid on an hourly basis, with earnings tied to their level of education.

One summer student is 19-year-old Jonathan Pedro who is studying computer engineering at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

He is the first summer student in the company to work in the energy supply plant in Hamilton and from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day, he worked alongside engineers he worked alongside engineers and electricians to ensure that Bermuda stayed connected.

"I work under the electricians with the mechanics," he explains. "We work in the instrument shop where, if any of the instruments have any problems we replace them or check that they are working correctly before putting them back on the engine."

What he loves most about his summer job is that no two days are alike and it keeps him interested.

In fact, he adds: "I'm thinking of switching to electrical engineering after working at Belco this summer. It's not a huge difference, but it seems I would have a lot more opportunities if I do switch and I want to come back to Bermuda to work.

"Getting my hands dirty is the best part of my day," he laughs. "I love working with my hands and used to love Lego when I was a kid. I also loved taking things apart and putting them together again."

Jonathan will be returning to school in Nova Scotia in August to start his second year, but until then he and fellow summer students have been working on another project for Belco — this time involving video production.

"We are making a video that human resources can take to schools across the island to show children what opportunities there are at Belco," he explains. "We're trying to make it more interesting so that we catch their attention. It involves videos, photos so it is very visual. We want to grab their attention, so a power point presentation would never work."

The team spent a few hours once a week working on the project which they eventually had to present to Belco's Board of Directors.

Should the video get the thumbs up, it will not only be shown across the island to spark the interest of youngsters, but will also be included in this years' Careers Fair at the Bermuda College.

Another summer student is 19-year-old Jessica Araujo who spent her summer working in the general accounts department.

She is studying accounting at the Bermuda College, where she just completed her first year.

Just like Jonathan, Jessica was awarded a Belco scholarship while still at school. Of course when Belco offered her a summer employment opportunity, the former Berkeleyite did not refuse.

On a day-to-day basis she works closely with accountants and financial controller and says it has given her a wonderful "hands on" experience.

"I love it. It gives me hands-on experience on what I want to do in the future and I love it," she says. "It's for my future so I wanted to do it for the experience."

Jessica plans to return to Belco once she completes her studies and would recommend the summer employment programme to anyone.

"Whatever you want to do in the future, it's always good to have experience and the experience they give you at Belco... I never thought they would give me so much responsibility... it's been very good."

For more Information on Belco's Summer Student Programme, contact Diane McCallum, the Human Resource Wellness & Events Coordinator via email at dmccallum@belco.bhl.bm or telephone 295-5111 ext. 1356.