Seventeen-year-old Sara Winstanley is encouraging young Bermudians to join her at Atlantic College in Wales where her experience there has "changed her life forever.'' Atlantic College is housed in a 13th Century castle known as St. Donats, located on cliffs overlooking the Bristol Channel in South Wales. It is situated about 70 miles from Cardiff.

The first United World College, it was established in 1962 to foster international understanding through education. Currently there are 376 students from 71 countries between the ages of 16 and 19 enrolled at the college.

Winstanley -- a former Bermuda High School student -- and Berkeley Institute graduate Collin Wood Anderson are the only Bermudians at the school.

She explained that new students went through an initiation process which involved a camping trip during which they "abseiled down a sheer rock face, and hiked through thick forest'' among other activities, which helped promote togetherness among the students.

Winstanley, who has just completed the first term of a two-year programme, said one of the best things about the college was meeting people from all over the world.

"After coming from a place like Bermuda where most people have similar ideas, it was great to get a new perspective on things,'' she said.

Winstanley explained that all the students followed the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme which is a pre-university qualification equivalent to A Levels.

She said that instead of taking the customary three subjects common to A Levels, IB students take six, three at a higher level and three subsidiary subjects.

The heavy course load included classes in the areas of the student's first language, a modern foreign language, individuals and society, the experimental sciences and mathematics, together with a sixth subject either from the arts or a second subject from the first five groups.

Also part of the curriculum, students participate in one or more of the eleven community services that the college offers, including lifeboat rescue, social services, and the local arts centre.

Students were also encouraged to take part in extracurricular activities ranging from drama to sailing.

In addition to Atlantic College, there are eight other United World Colleges in Canada, US, Italy, Venezuela, Norway, Hong Kong, Swaziland, and Singapore.

A ninth college is scheduled to open in India next year.