The Bermuda Chapter of the Phi Delta Kappa fraternity will be hosting two leadership skills seminars called "Empowering Students for Success'' next week.

At 7 p.m. on October 13, Dr. Jacquleine Brown, a well-known educator from the Howard County school system in Baltimore, will serve as the keynote speaker for the first of the events, which are being conducted by the Leadership Skills Institute.

During the second, at 9 a.m. on October 14, a panel discussion that is to include Dr. Brown, Mount St. Agnes principal Sister Judith Rollo, retired educator Mrs. Veronica Ross, current educator Mr. Winston Simon, Elliott School principal Ms Beverly Thompson and a college student that has yet to be named will also take place.

Mr. Ron Lightbourne and Mrs. Vivilyn Cooper will serve as moderators for both of the events.

Seminar tickets, which cost $15 a session or $25 for two sessions for adults and $10 for both sessions for students, can be purchased from Phi Delta Kappa members in the schools or by calling the Elliott School's Ms Thompson at 236-3091.

All parents, teachers and students have been invited to sign up for the seminars.

Registration for the October 13 session will be at 5.45 p.m. and for October 14 at 8.15 a.m.

*** Acadia University student Ms Dawn Hayward, meanwhile, has been awarded the Business and Professional Women's Association's Dr. Iris Marsh Education Award for 1995.

Named in honour of the well-known Bermudian educator, the $1,000 award is given out annually to female students who have excelled academically and who have the potential to inspire other young women in the future.

*** From November 17 to 19, the Radnor Road Christian Fellowship of Bermuda will host its inaugural "Soulfire Youth Conference 1995'' at the Elbow Beach Hotel.

Designed to look at the various issues that affect young people today from a Christian perspective, the conference, which is open to youths aged 12 to 19, costs $185 for those who plan to overnight at the hotel. Day and evening sessions will be free.

Anyone who is interested in attending the conference can get registration forms from the Christian Book Store in Hamilton or by calling the fellowship's youth minister, Mr. Daron Lowe, at 293-4041.

The registration deadline for those who plan to stay at Elbow Beach is October 14.

*** Starting on Thursday, the Bermuda Zoological Society will kick off its annual Bermuda Natural History Course in the Bermuda Aquarium's Education Room.

Consisting of two meetings a week between October 5 and November 18 (excepting November 11 and 16), the $40 course will incorporate Saturday morning field trips to such places as the South Shore beaches, Spittal Pond, Paget Marsh and Nonsuch Island and cover such lecture topics as geology, man's impact on Bermuda, the Island's coral reefs and marine invertebrates.

Anyone who is interested in taking the course, whose evening portions will be held every Thursday between 7 p.m. and 9.15 p.m., can register by calling the Society's Education Office at 293-2727 (Ext. 16).

Participants in the course must be members of the BZS and a course certificate will be issued on completion.

WINNER -- Ms Judy Hayward (right) accepts the $1,000 1995 Dr. Iris Marsh Education Award on behalf of her daughter, Acadia University student Ms Dawn Hayward, from Ms Angelia Bassett (left) and Mrs. Sheila Swan of the Business and Professional Women's Association.