Impact Mentoring Academy hosted a Rites of Passage weekend at Paget Island for their students.

Nicholas Peniston of Impact Mentoring Academy, said this about the weekend: “In other parts of the world there are traditions called Rites of Passage that are essential to the growth and development of a person.

“Rites of Passage explore notable milestones in an individual's life whether it's marriage, puberty, coming of age, and even death.

“I am proud to say I got the opportunity to experience a Rites of Passage over Paget Island a few weeks ago.

“It's hard to express how I felt throughout the experience because I felt a range of emotions as it progressed. One thing that I can say is that by the end of weekend I was a changed person and I felt the other initiates that partook in the Rites of Passage also changed for the better.

“After the Rites I had some time to think about how that experience changed me, and I came to find out that as men there is a stigma about how a ‘man' should act that's forced on us by society, especially in Bermuda.

“By the end of the weekend I could see that that stigma is what is holding Bermuda back from what we could be.

“Rites of Passage is still a foreign concept to a lot of the world, but I feel that if we try to integrate it more into our social norms that the benefits we would reap would change the way we see ourselves as a society. Pushing our boundaries and challenging one another is the only way we can better ourselves and move toward the future of this Island and its people.”