Alumni Highlight AES’s Transformative Impact
Three Adult Education School alumni — Senator Joan Dillas-Wright, Patrice Frith Hayward, and Kevin Simpson — shared how the institution helped them.
A spokesperson said, “Thousands of Bermudians are making key contributions in our community after turning their lives around at the Adult Education School. Three proud alumni – Senator Joan Dillas-Wright, Patrice Frith Hayward and Kevin Simpson – share their stories today, to highlight the major role AES has played for nearly 70 years.
“If you didn’t complete high school in the traditional way, the Adult Education School opens the door to a thriving career and more life opportunities. More than 4,000 people have graduated from AES since it was founded in 1958 – many of them going on to become role models and leaders in business, professional government and non-profit sectors.
“The school, which relaunched on Dundonald Street in 2022 after a temporary closure during the Covid-19 pandemic, is seeing a marked increase in interest and student enrolment. More than 75 learners are receiving academic or pathway support today, and 39 people have graduated with their GEDs since the relaunch. This success is merely building on the remarkable foundations laid throughout more than six decades of service to Bermuda’s community.
Adult Education School alumni, from left: Patrice Frith Hayward, Kevin Simpson and Senator Joan Dillas-Wright
“Joan Dillas-Wright, who serves as President of the Senate today, enjoyed a rewarding career in nursing and health administration, before being appointed to the Upper House in 2008 and has been president since 2017.
“Yet it was not always an easy journey for Mrs Dillas-Wright. After doing well in her first year at Berkeley Institute, she was forced to leave due to family issues, and because she could not afford the required secondary school fees. Shortly before that time, Berkeley educator Merle Brock Swan Williams had formed the Adult Education School, to provide support for young people she believed were not suited to the orthodox classroom learning style. It proved the perfect set-up for young Joan.”
“I attended the Adult Education School during its very early start when it was offering secretarial courses at the Imperial Hotel on the corner of Church and Queen Street,” she recalled.
“At that time, the courses offered were English, mathematics, typing and shorthand, which I did complete. There was no graduation ceremony at that time. What I learned about myself at the time is that you should not lose sight of your career objective, even if your financial circumstances change. Where there is a will, there will always be a way.”
Mrs Dillas-Wright’s early career objective was to become a nurse. “I had the good fortune to undertake private tuition from other teachers who taught me biology, mathematics and first aid,” she said.
The spokesperson said, “This led to a job as a ward maid on a patient unit at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, exposing her to the needs of patients and the chance to gain knowledge from experienced nurses.”
“I did not lose sight of my career objective, and with the encouragement of Mrs Merle Brock Swan Williams, my father and others, I was able to achieve my objective to travel to England and study nursing,” she said. “Today, I can say I have had a most rewarding career in nursing, health administration and politics in my home country, Bermuda.”
The spokesperson said, “After becoming a registered nurse in 1964, Mrs Dillas-Wright spent decades in the health sector in the UK and Bermuda. She became director of nursing at St Brendan’s Hospital in the 1990s and served as CEO of the Bermuda Hospitals Board. She was awarded an MBE for services to healthcare in Bermuda in 2008.”
“I am very pleased to see that the Adult Education School has developed to the extent that it is now offering courses for the GED Certificate,” she said. “That is so very important for our young people, especially those who for one reason or another have not been able to attend the regular secondary schools.”
The spokesperson said, “Patrice Frith Hayward, a multi-talented life coach, had two spells at AES. The first, with her twin brother Patrick, was while AES was referred to as ‘Night School’ during the late 1970s; she was still a Berkeley Institute student at that time. She didn’t graduate from Berkeley, so enrolled at AES again in 1994, when she was 31.”
“I dropped out of Berkeley after repeating my fourth year,” she said. “I never took the fifth-year class and never graduated. I was intelligent – great in English, reading and writing – but thought I already knew it all and played a lot in school.”
The spokesperson said, “AES helped her get back on track, and she completed the GED, her ticket to study broadcast journalism at a college overseas. Ms Hayward can now look back on a fulfilling career as a published author and playwright and radio show host. Today, she works as a professional development facilitator, public speaker and television talk show host.”
“Leaving high school without a diploma doesn’t mean life is over, it just means you took a detour,” she said. “Life teaches us lessons outside the classroom, but that doesn’t erase our ability to grow, learn and bounce back.”
Her message to young people who might be struggling at school today? “Don’t let shame, fear or time convince you that you can’t do it. You can. Believe in your ability to start again, no matter how long it takes. Every step is proof that you’re still in the game, and your dream is still within reach. I wish the Adult Education School well and hope they stay around, shaping lives and futures for many more years to come.”
The spokesperson said, “Kevin Simpson, a stamp duty officer at the Bermuda Government, graduated from AES when he was 26, in 2003. He previously had a hard time focusing at St George’s Secondary School and later embarked on a job at a construction site, when he had a life-changing encounter with a colleague.”
Mr Simpson explained: “There was a wonderful gentleman I was working with, who told me, ‘If you don’t plan your life, someone will plan it for you.’”
Acting on this advice, Mr Simpson joined AES and immediately made academic progress. “With everything that was going on in my life, getting up at 6.30am to work, I had developed better discipline and task management,” he said. “That was something I could apply to my studying.”
Mr Simpson quickly passed three of the four GED subjects, but math proved the toughest hurdle. “I had failed math, I had to dig in and really study for math. In the end, I passed by one point. I remember when I passed my exams and Mrs Julia Beach called to congratulate me and tell me how happy she was that my hard work had paid off.
“I went on to Bermuda College, then a law degree and training school. But it was that one extra point at the Adult Education School that means the most.
“I am truly grateful for my time as an adult student at AES and probably would not be where I am today had I not attended the AES.”
The spokesperson said, “Learn more about AES and its programmes: The Adult Education School, or make a donation.”
