AXA XL awards scholarship to Bermuda High School’s Adriana Burchall

AXA XL has awarded the 2020 AXA XL Scholarship to Bermuda High School International Baccalaureate (IB) graduate Adriana Burchall.

The AXA XL Scholarship is a four-year full scholarship that is open to students who are Bermudian or hold Permanent Resident Certificate status, and are working toward a degree in a subject related to the re/insurance industry.

Burchall, who is 18, was selected from a list of more than 30 applicants. She will begin classes at St. John’s University in the US later this month. She has a passion for Mathematics and plans to obtain a Bachelor of Science in actuarial science, before pursuing a career as an actuary in the re/insurance industry.

Burchall attended CedarBridge Academy and participated in the Bermuda International Long Term Insurers and Reinsurers’ tutoring programme – a voluntary programme giving participants some experience of the insurance industry. She earned top grades in her International General Certificate of Secondary Education exams. She won the Terry Flood Award and Academic Achievement Award, and achieved the highest GPA.

At CedarBridge she was also awarded a three-week internship/work shadow placement at Nautilus Indemnity Holdings where she produced analysis and reports well beyond what was expected of someone of her level and experience.

Because the IB Diploma programme is not offered by CedarBridge Burchall transferred to do the IB programme at Bermuda High School and was awarded funding from an anonymous donor and scholarships to cover her two-year course. She earned a 4.0 GPA and IB score in the top 20 percentile of IB Diploma students globally.

In addition to her academic achievements, Burchall has participated in a number of extra-curricular activities, including volunteering as an education associate at Nexus, an education charity based in Bermuda, and offering Spanish tutoring services.

AXA XL scholarship committee chairperson Carol Parker Trott said: “Throughout the years the committee has met some of Bermuda’s most impressive young people and this year, despite conducting the interviews virtually, was no exception. The diversity of talented candidates was inspiring but made the selection process even more difficult than normal.”