As the scholarship charity Knowledge Quest approaches its ten year anniversary, its directors are looking forward to something unusual: putting themselves out of the job.

Directors Barry Brewer, Cynthia Cox and Kathy Lines said the charity's eventual dream was to be run by its own alumni.

Mr. Brewer said: "We're now in our tenth year, we've raised over $1 million, and we're over 100 students that we've helped."

At a celebratory luncheon for a group of alumni, Mr. Brewer summed up Knowledge Quest as an organisation that can't afford to publicise itself because "every dollar we take in goes to the students".

Celebrating over 100 scholarships for cash-strapped students, often from single parent homes, the Knowledge Quest charity says it currently has 38 Bermudian students, from age 19 to 47, pursuing degrees overseas with their financial assistance.

Mr. Brewer said as the group acquires more funding, its ultimate goal is to assist anyone who truly wants a further education to go out and get it.

"Education is the key to the castle," he said. "We want people in Bermuda to know that the opportunity is there."

The charity was set up almost ten years ago in Bermuda, along with fellow directors Kathy Lines, Alan Titus, Ricky Lines and Gigi Barit, to meet a pressing need furnishing local students with the education they can't afford on their own.

It screens its candidates to find the ones who can't afford an education overseas. Students only become eligible after applying for at least five other scholarships — which makes Knowledge Quest a charity of last resort — and as a rule it chooses students who have gone through Bermuda College first.

Sherie Joell, one of the first to receive a Knowledge Quest scholarship, started at Acadia University in 2002 and graduated in 2006. "I was working part-time and attending Bermuda College; Knowledge Quest had just formed and the principal of Berkeley called me up and told me. I interviewed, and I was one of the first students to get a partial scholarship.

"I'd been through a few other scholarships before them, and they helped me apply for more."

She described the group as "all-round help", giving mentoring and advice as well as financial assistance.

"At the end of the day it was my goal, and they wanted to help me accomplish it. That's what they do for all the students who come aboard with Knowledge Quest; they try to be another backbone for them."

Ms Joell is now a senior business analyst with HSBC, and works with Knowledge Quest as well as other educational groups such as Passports to College.

"My mom was a single parent with two children and so was my dad, with three. Finances were difficult and university is not cheap. Without the scholarships, it would have been years more for me to send myself through school."

The group says its success rate is well over 90 percent in terms of graduation.

With nearly a decade of further education behind it, a community of old and recent graduates has formed, offering mentorship and support.

Michelle Perinchief was a part-time Bermuda College student in 2002 when she learned of the new scholarship charity.

Graduating from Guildford College in North Carolina with Bachelors degrees in Biology and Forensic Biology, she went to work as a civilian forensic support officer for the Bermuda Police Service two days after returning home in April, 2008. "We attend the scenes on a daily basis of burglaries, assaults and such. We process the scene for evidence such as fingerprints to help identify suspects."

Knowledge Quest got her there, she said, starting with a $5,000 scholarship that was later raised to $12,000.

Recent graduate Travis Stevens said: "At the end of my first year at St. John's University in New York realised I needed some additional funding.

"Going to the banks and applying to all the scholarships, I realised I had to reach out to everything I could, and one of my colleagues at KPMG told me about Knowledge Quest.That was in 2008. I just graduated in May."

Karen-Anne Fox was in her first year at Bermuda College, attending on a high school scholarship and working at Four Star Pizza to make ends meet, when she learned of Knowledge Quest.

As a student without financial means, she fit the organisation's profile and was able to take three years abroad, starting in 2003.

In July, 2006, she graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Greenwich in the UK.

Working at Montpelier Reinsurance during every holiday back in Bermuda, she joined full time after graduating and works there still as a risk analyst.

Eneye Jatto graduated last May from Philadelphia's Temple University.

Mr. Jatto has worked as a banking specialist at HSBC for four months and credits scholarships and mentoring for getting him there.

He added: "You don't have to be the best at your school or a top student; it's just there for needy students who want to study more."