A career path can be a rather winding one, taking one in many different directions – some totally unexpected. For Krina Arorash and Jonathan Faries and some of their fellow interns at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the path to Chartered Accountant status took them along the narrow, 18th century streets of the Town of St. George one hot summer's day dressed in period costume.

On Friday July 16 a group of seven young people interning with the local accounting firm were required to complete a day of community service with the Bermuda National Trust under the direction of Trust Education Director Carolyn Conway. In the morning they donned period costumes made by local designer Liz Campbell, and toured historical properties in the old town, greeting tourists along the way. In the afternoon, more strenuous activities involved clearing a graveyard of invasive vegetation.

"I think people have an opinion of community service as a hard day's labour," observed Miss Arorash, but the tasks they were set did not seem like hard work. "It didn't seem as if we were volunteering," she continued, "but we were contributing to Bermuda's tourism."

Dressed as a servant girl, she admitted: "At first I felt kinda embarrassed, but after a while, when we had tourists coming up and asking questions I felt fine. I felt more comfortable interacting with the tourists."

Mr. Faries, whose costume turned him into a sea captain for a few hours, thought: "It was a fun opportunity to learn and work with people I didn't know yet."

When asked what he thought this had to do with becoming an accountant, he replied: "It has everything to do with giving back to the community, learning things about our Island. It goes back to being a person doing the right thing, setting a good example and giving back to those in need."

The afternoon's labours involved clearing invasive plants from St. David's cemetery under the guidance of Trust Conservation Officer David Outerbridge. Even though it involved heavy labour in more practical attire, Mr. Faries noted, "It was fun working with my team mates and getting a lot accomplished."

Miss. Arorash came to appreciate just how much effort goes into maintaining historic sites, and how much local residents appreciate the effort, especially in a graveyard where relatives and ancestors are buried. By the end of the afternoon, about half of the site had been cleared, the interns had learned a lot ("we saw a lot of places we didn't even know existed"), and above all "we had fun."

And the Trust's verdict? "It was a pleasure to see a group of young individuals taking the time to step out of their comfort zone, roll up their sleeves and give back to their community," declared Mrs. Conway. "I must say we gained a great deal of innovative and creative ideas from this group on how to expand on this new programme next year. We will definitely focus more on this age group to develop awareness of community projects."