A student advisor has decided to take her counselling skills beyond the school walls.

This fall Jennifer Shepherd will change roles from leading pupils to becoming a student herself in a bid to become a Methodist priest.

"A number of things have led to this,'' she said. "It has been a long path.'' Mrs. Shepherd said she first began toying with the idea about eight years ago.

"It was never something I thought I would do,'' she admitted.

In September, Mrs. Shepherd, her husband Mark and their three children will move to the West Coast of Canada, where she will attend the Vancouver School of Theology.

"It is a major commitment,'' she said. "It is a three year programme and then I will have to do a year's internship.'' Mrs. Shepherd said she was both excited and nervous about her "new adventure''.

"I'm excited about living on the West Coast,'' she said. "But I'm nervous about learning Hebrew and Biblical history.'' Noting that she had been counselling people for years, Mrs. Shepherd said her new career path was a "natural progression''.

And she said she would like to return to Bermuda, where she has lived for the past six years, to preach God's word.

"I would like to come back,'' she said. "Maybe even to Grace Church.

"I have preached there before last summer and it was really good.'' Although she admitted that the Church had been embroiled in controversy over the past few years, she maintained that there was "such a spirit there'' and she believed she could make a contribution to the congregation.

The governing body of the Methodist Church and a dissident group from the congregation are currently awaiting a Supreme Court decision regarding who has the "right'' to the small Pembroke Church.