More than $50,000 of scholarships are waiting to be collected by Spice Valley and TN Tatem Middle School graduates who excelled at the school.

The Foundation of Bermuda Studies said that the Quinton Edness and Naquita Dill-Robinson scholarships, which had been run by the school’s parent teacher association and principal, selected five recipients per year between 2012 and 2019.

But while the awardees were selected when they graduated from middle school, the student was required to complete secondary school and one term of higher education to receive the benefit.

“Unfortunately, some of the students have not kept in touch over the years and/or their contact information changed,” said a spokeswoman for the Foundation.

“Further to that, the school’s uncertain, then eventual, closure caused the fund to lay dormant until it was revived by the Foundation for Bermuda Studies.

“So far only a small number of students have received their award – about six in total – but the Foundation is committed to having every eligible student awarded.”

The spokeswoman added the Foundation hoped to award approximately $56,500 to students who have qualified as recipients of the scholarships.

The scholarships were originally made available by the Spice Valley Middle School Trust, which later changed its name to the Bermuda Charitable Trust.

The trust was registered as a charity in 2003 and renamed the Spice Valley/TN Tatem Middle School Trust when the school itself was renamed in 2006.

When the school was closed in 2020, its funds were transferred to the Foundation of Bermuda Studies.

The Foundation, created by Lynda Milligan-Whyte, Arthur Hodgson and Michael Markham in 2003, was launched as an independent, non partisan Bermuda charity with an emphasis on education.

The spokeswoman said: “Working with the former protector of the Spice Valley/TN Tatem Middle School Trust Scholarship and Diallo Rabain, the Minister of Education, the process to locate and verify all the scholarship recipients commenced in 2020 to facilitate the distribution of the Spice Valley/TN Tatem Middle School Trust Scholarship funds to recipients.”

Those who have been selected as recipients of the award and require details about how to submit a request are urged to contact Andrea Karen Ming at kming@richmond.bm.