For Winston Godwin, 20, "Be the Change" isn't just a phrase on a T-shirt, it is a phrase to live by.

Mr. Godwin is the 2010 Steinhoff/Bermuda Zoological Society (BZS) $10,000 Scholarship recipient.

He is in his third year at the University of Guelph, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, where he is majoring in Geography with a minor in Environmental Studies.

"I hope to do some kind of conservation work," said Mr. Godwin. "With the way the environment is going in this current time, we need help. I hope to make a difference, and a positive impact."

He said it is very frustrating to watch the oil crisis in the Gulf unfolding and not yet be in a position to help. "I would definitely be interested in helping with the oil crisis," he said. "Thousands of gallons of oil are still pouring into the ocean every day.

"It has taken them awhile to do something about it, other than to appoint blame. It is a little frustrating and depressing and discouraging.

"Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about it in Bermuda. As I stand idly by oil is washing into the wetlands and destroying birds and other wildlife."

Mr. Godwin said he was interested in local efforts to monitor the effects of the oil crisis on Bermuda's environment.

"I spoke to Mark Outerbridge who is one of the coordinators for the Bermuda Turtle Project," said Mr. Godwin. "This project monitors turtles in our waters. Mr. Outerbridge will be watching to see if the oil crisis effects our turtle population.

"Ours turtles migrate from all over, a lot from the south and Costa Rica. It has the potential to affect them. At the moment I have no plans to go down there to the Gulf," said Mr. Godwin. "Right now I have just been working as a lifeguard.

"I go back to school in August. If the opportunity arose and I was able to take the time off from school I would definitely consider it."

Mr. Godwin started out in marine biology, but recently switched to his current degree programme.

"Ever since I can remember I have had a passion for marine biology," he said. "Last year I was working with the Bermuda Turtle Project.

"I was talking to people in the field and I decided that environmental science and geography was the best fit for me.

"It is a bit broader so I can do a bit more with it. Marine biology is very specific. With environmental studies I can do more broad stuff and still focus on specifics."

Mr. Godwin would like to do a minor in Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

"It is basically mapping using satellites and satellite imagery to map environmental change," he said. "You can use it for a number of things, but that is what I hope to use it for."

He would also like to obtain a Master's degree in Europe.

"I have never been there so it would be kind of cool," he said. "After that I would like to work elsewhere for a little bit and learn as much as I possibly can."

Eventually, he would like to come home and work for organisations such as the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS).

He has worked with BIOS' Waterstart programme for young people for a number of years.

This summer, Mr. Godwin is working as a lifeguard, and also part time at KFC.

"It is pretty fun to do lifeguarding," he said. "I get to work with other people the same age as myself. I get to cycle through five beaches, and get to see parts of the island and talk to tourists."

He said in the two years he has been doing lifeguarding he has probably saved four people.

This was Mr. Godwin's second time applying for the Steinhoff/BZS scholarship.

"This year I worked really hard in my studies," he said. "It all paid off. I am more interested in the courses I am taking now. Even in my spare time I look up stuff."

Mr. Godwin also has a passion for photography.

"With lifeguarding some of the beaches are slower than others," he said. "So we have time to take patrols, and look around.

"I talked to Jeremy Madeiros, Government Conservation Officer, the other day and he was surveying the longtails.

"He said the longtails were doing well this year, and look like they are recovering from Hurricane Fabian."

Mr. Godwin said the scholarship meant a great deal to himself and his parents, Winston and Rashida Godwin.

"I thank the Bermuda Zoological Society and the Steinhoff Environmental Scholarship Committee for providing me with this opportunity," he said.

He is the second recipient of the $10,000 Steinhoff/BZS Scholarship, launched last year.

BZS also awarded Mark Outerbridge, $4,000 towards his PhD degree. He has spent the last couple of years studying killifish and Bermuda's terrapins.