Six summer students with key positions at Logic Communications were congratulated on a job well done last week earning a bonus from the company which most said will go towards their time in college. Last week the summer students said their work with the company offered them many benefits.

Wendell Ebbin, 20, a student at Dalhousie University in Canada, said: "Because of the versatility and diversity of the multi-departmental company like Logic you can switch departments completely. But because it is smaller than most you get hands-on experience in more than just certain things so it gives you lots of different experiences."

The six students, Mr. Ebbin, Loren Emery, Khaliah Foster, Christopher Pedro, Richard Weare and Trace Easton were praised by Logic CEO Jeff Hamill who said they provided valuable technical talent to the company.

"We are proud to have these young Bermudians gaining work experience in the IT industry with Logic. It has been rewarding for both parties, and we will continue to invest in both Logic, and more importantly, Bermuda's future. We congratulate these students for their enthusiasm and professional work ethic, and wish them great success in the future," he said. "Should they want to come back they will be welcomed with open arms."

Mr. Hamill said that traditionally, technically skilled employees at Logic had come from abroad, but that developing local talent created long-term stability for the company.

"It's an open culture in the company. People are encouraged to think out of the box and prove things. Some have been able to do some very interesting things while they were here," he said.

Twenty-year-old Christopher Pedro, a student at Acadia University in Canada, had been instrumental in developing a network monitoring platform which Mr. Hamill said made it easy to sound the alarm on network failure.

"I've learned a lot since I've been here," Mr. Pedro said. "I was assigned a project to develop a monitoring system if the connection goes down for customers who have dedicated Internet connections with Logic. I learned a lot to get it up and running. I get a lot of advice to trouble shoot, but the majority of it is independent work. We use the monitoring system every day now," he added. Mr. Pedro worked in the network operations division and is studying computer science.

Loren Emery recently graduated from Acadia and was working in Logic's internal support division, training under the internal support specialist.

"I support people who work with software programs and help them set up new usernames and profiles. The best part is I get to meet people and fix problems or route them to someone who can," said the 24-year-old.

Trace Easton worked in customer care and was introduced to Logic at the Bermuda College's Career Day and was hired in 2000 while completing a full computer science programme at Bermuda College.

Khaliah Foster was the company's first student intern when she joined in February while she was a student at college in Halifax. A 10-week internship was arranged and successfully completed and extended to the summer student programme.

Richard Weare as involved in the business administration side. Attending Rollins College in Florida, Mr. Weare said he developed good working relationships as an intern.

"They are good people," said Mr. Hamill.