Anderson ... The scholarship was very instrumental in my completing the programme. Without this, I might not have been able to move a step closer to the career I desire.

Final-year student at the Norman Manley Law School, 28-year-old Bertram Anderson, was the recipient of the 2003-2004 Tastee Scholarship (offered through the University of the West Indies Endowment Fund) for law for two years - the second and third year of the LLB (Bachelor of Laws) programme spent in Barbados.

Today, he states, "The scholarship was very instrumental in my completing the programme. Without this, I might not have been able to move a step closer to the career I desire."

Anderson took a circuitous route to the study of law, completing first and second degrees in psychology and political science before realising that his heart's desire was law. By then, however, he was broke.

He states, "I stand eternally grateful to the entire Tastee family for helping, for believing in me and for having made the contribution. The amount was $100,000 per year. I had to maintain a certain average in order get it for a second year. That was a positive."

Anderson, who graduated from the LLB programme with a first class degree, says he sees the Tastee scholarship as a "noble and nation-building gesture."

The law student states, "In Barbados, I could rest comfortably knowing my hall fee, books and other contingencies were taken care of. It released the pressure. I saw other classmates working in Barbados and this cut into study time."

Bertram Anderson, while in Barbados, also worked to help other students in need. As president of the welfare programme for Jamaicans, he worked to source food and support for tuition and boarding. "We raised over Bds $30,000 to help."

For the future, he says, he is leaning towards Conveyancing and Succession Law but, whatever jobhe receives, he states, it will position him to give back, which he fully intends to do.

"Even now I am being partly funded by the government. I will ensure that I put back something."

The law student currently lectures at the UWI School of Continuing Studies, and remains involved in outreach programmes at the Norman Manley Law School.

"I am trying to uplift myself but also to ensure that I give back," he states.

- Avia Collinder