The staff at Berkeley Institute have decided to do the selection process for the next school year's prefects differently.

In previous years students were selected and then trained in all things they would need to know in order to carry out their duties.

This year the staff selected more students than would be needed and then all the potential prefects were put through a year long training session.

Deputy Principal Leveyette Robinson said: "We went through a list of the S2 (Senior Two) students names and selected the ones we thought had good academics and were grounded and responsible individuals.

"Almost 70 students were selected for the training and that represents about half of their year.'' The students were then put through a special training programme that was designed by Student Leader Trainer Edwin Small.

Mr. Small explained that the process used in the past did not allow staff to choose outstanding people for the roll of prefect.

"This year we extended the time and will be able to assess the roles that the students are best suited for,'' he said.

"We avoided the weeding out process. We thought that, even though not every one of them will get to be a prefect, it would be a positive experience for all of them.

"They have learned skills that they will be able to take with them no matter what they do.'' He added that only 35 students will be chosen as prefects, but the remaining half that were trained will also be given leadership roles within the school.

The selected students attended two seminars that covered topics such as personal development, leadership development, group dynamics, the responsibilities of student leaders and the history of Berkeley Institute in society.

They were also asked to evaluate their own personality as well as other that of other members in the group.

At the beginning of the sessions some of the students thought that being a prefect might be boring, but by the end they had realised that they would have a lot of fun next year.

Sixteen-year-old Maura Almeida said that one of the hardest things that they learned was that they will have to deal with other students personalities and find ways to work their problems out.

"I think learning how to handle different situations will be the hardest thing that we will have to do,'' added Seldon Woolridge.

Rosita Bassett, also 16, said that being judged by her peers would be the hardest thing for her.

"I think being judged by our peers will be the hardest part because it may be something that we did in the past and now we have to correct them,'' she said.

"They may judge us now that we're prefects.'' Some of the important lessons that the students took away from their training was trying to understand what other people think of them and what they thought of themselves.

"We also learned about the history of the school and what other people had to go through to get us where we are now,'' said Stacia.

Sixteen year-old Leiam Anderson added that they learned that they have people behind them, helping to get them where they want to go, whether it was as a prefect or not.

The prefect training was also an opportunity for students to get to know some of the school's teachers better.

Maura said: "I enjoyed learning new things about myself and we got to know Mr. Small and Ms. Robinson better.

"We didn't really know Mr. Small that well before and we found out that Ms.

Robinson can sing.'' Seldon added that they had learned a lot of bridge building skills -- skills that the students will be able to use later on in life.

Members of the group who wanted to be considered for the position of head prefect were asked to make an application for the position in the form of a letter. They were then interviewed.

Out of the eight students that the Royal Gazette interviewed only two applied for the position.

Seldon said that he applied for the position because he thought it would be a good opportunity for him.

"I thought it would be a great opportunity to expand my horizons and attempt the challenge,'' he said. "I will be taking on harder challenges in my life and this is my start and it looks good on a resume.'' As summer has just begun and there are still two more months to go these students will have to wait until the beginning of the next school term in September to find out which half of them have become prefects.