Jonathan Bell
Published Dec 7, 2016 at 8:00 am (Updated Dec 7, 2016 at 7:20 am)

Berkeley students build an Xmas display at the Aquarium (Photograph by Blaire Simmons)

Their mission was to put a smile on children’s faces.

“That’s actually our motto,” said Berkeley Institute S4 student Jahkaya Douglas, who teamed up with six others to design and build an elaborate Christmas display from scratch for charity. It worked: “The children lit right up when they saw it,” he said.

The event was the Bermuda Zoological Society’s Christmas party for youngsters last Friday night.

Jahkaya worked with Kevin DaCosta, Jayorie Fox, Jean-Pierre Lucas, Camerin Pickering, Jecoa Thomas and Eduardo Vieira to build a wooden sleigh, a throne and set pieces to transform a room at the Aquarium into Santa’s workshop.

Hosting the party took some costuming as well, so that Santa himself could attend with students dressed up as elves.

The group teamed up with Trevor Haynes, head of Berkeley’s carpentry department, as well as English teacher Tonisha

Key Holmes, to raise money for BZS classes and conservation programmes — and also to fund their school trip in February to look at further education in Rhode Island.

Berkeley is one of eight secondary schools that will be awarded donations by PartnerRe, as part of its Dollars for Hours programme, at a special reception tonight at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute — where their handiwork will go on display.

PartnerRe awards $30,000 to each school, pairing them with a charitable community project in the process. The Berkeley Institute students originally planned a Hallowe’en event for BZS, until Hurricane Nicole intervened.

For the Christmas project, the team had to put in a lot of extra hours outside class time to get their sets built, and the work shows: the sturdy sleigh can comfortably hold the entire group.

“They came through with flying colours; we can’t speak highly enough about it,” said Joanne Chrisnall, the volunteer co-ordinator for BZS.

“You can see the level of craftsmanship — and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea to dress up as an elf.”