Government will give almost $2 million in scholarships this year. Education Minister Terry Lister last week handed out teacher training and mature students awards and Bermuda Government Scholarships.

The teacher training and mature student awards were presented on Monday and are all $10,000 per year for three years. Recipients were: Waynesha Bean who is studying Special Education at the University of West Florida; Talitha Davis who is studying Speech Language Pathology at Old Dominion University, Virginia; Lora Douglas and Gena Smith who are studying Special Education/Collaborative Teaching at Alabama Agricultural, Mechanical University in Alabama and Damyon Ray who is studying Electrical Engineering/Mathematics at the same school.

Toneka Shanna Hayward who is studying Biology at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia; Oba Swan who is studying Middle/Senior School Education at American International College in Massachusetts, Shar-Dae Whitter who is studying Mathematics Education at St. Augustine?s College North Carolina; Thaaqib Talbot who is studying Information Technology at Old Dominion University, Virginia and Lawrence Smith who is studying Middle Level Education at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

Mature student awards recipients were: Kathy Delarie Burgess who will study Legal Practice at Nottingham University, England; Jennifer Fray who will continue her studies towards a Master?s Degree in Counselling/Psychology; Wendy Keitha Greenidge who will continue her studies in Law at Kent University, Kent, England; Heather LaVerne Peters who will continue her studies towards in Accounting at Morgan State University, Baltimore; Miriam Ruth Rogers who will commence her Bar Vocational Course at Inns of Court School of Law, London, England and Kimberley Ann Simons who will commence studies towards a degree in Art and Design at Concordia University, Canada.

The Bermuda Government Scholarship Awards are for $25,000 a year.

Introducing the recipients of this years? awards at a function last week, Mr. Lister said two years ago the requirements were amended to include students coming straight out of high school and also increased the maximum qualifying age from 21 to 23.

The academic qualifications include a GPA of at least 3.5.

?A total of 115 applicants competed for the Bermuda Government Scholarship this year. With such competition, it is easy to see why it is an honour to be a Bermuda Government Scholar,? he said. The recipients for these scholarships are: Akilah Beckles who will study Political Science at Queen?s University, Kingston, Ontario, in the fall; Vashun Blanchette who will continue studies in Business Management at the University of East Anglia, UK; Tiara Carlington who will begin studies in Pre-med at the University of Tampa, Florida; Janell Castle who will begin studies in Actuarial Science at Temple University, Pennsylvania; Michelle Monk who will continue studies in Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York University, Toronto; Donald (Edward) Rance who will begin studies in English at Cambridge University in the UK; Danielle Ashley Raynor who will begin studies in the fall towards a Bachelor?s degree in Commerce at Saint Mary?s University, Halifax, Canada and Warren Simmons who will study History/African Studies at Howard University, Washington in the US.