There are more seats in Gillette Stadium than there are people in Bermuda.
It’s little known, surprising facts like this that surprise people, and make them consider that Bermuda, where several students at Williston call home, is more than just a vacation spot with nice weather.
Another fact: it is not in the Caribbean.
Founded in 1609 by a shipwreck led by Sir George Somers, Bermuda is a British Colony in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The closest state to Bermuda is North Carolina, around 600 miles away. A 21-mile island, Bermuda has a lot of connections to the United States due to its proximity. Bermuda and the States share many traditions, but it still very different from the U.S.
Here at Williston there are currently six Bermudian students who, despite the island’s size, all have very different upbringings.
Zh’ky Johnson-Tuzo, a senior, believes the support Bermudians give each other is what makes us so special.
“The pride in Bermuda culture is unmatched. Bermudians love to come together and support one another, from local talent to international sporting events,” he said. “Bermuda is small island with a big heart, it thrives off of unity, hospitality and the care locals pour into it.”
The sporting event Zh’ky referred to is the Men’s National Football Team, which is participating in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, with their next two games on November 13 in Bermuda against Curacao and November 18 in Trinidad against Trinidad and Tobago. The Bermuda Football Association (BFA) is expecting the home game to be sold out.
Bermuda currently has about 64,000 residents, according to Britannica.
Being from an island doesn’t mean it is always paradise and nothing bad ever happens. Zh’ky doesn’t think people know how hard it is to live in Bermuda.
“People may not know that island life also has its challenges,” he said, which include “high living costs, limited space, and a close-knit environment where everyone knows each other.”
Bermuda is one of the most expensive countries to live in. Due to Bermuda being such a small island, almost everything is imported, which makes duty at customs extremely high.
Evans Welch, a sophomore from the island, finds it funny what people think when they hear of her country.
“They think we live in huts,” Evans said. “That we don’t have anything but nice beaches. We actually have houses, really nice houses.”
“It isn’t all sunshine and rainbows all the time, there is still violence,” she added.
Soleil Richardson, who graduated in 2024 and currently attends Boston Conservatory at Berklee, believes people at Williston don’t realize how actually small Bermuda is.
“People say there’s six degrees of separation of everyone in world. In Bermuda it’s like one-and-a-half degrees between you and a random person you see on the street,” she said. “Everyone knows everyone.”
Every year Schools To Know, an organization that connects families to boarding schools, hosts a fair in Bermuda at which 14 schools from Canada and the U.S. come to and talk to families about schools in the States. There have also been several Bermudians who are Williston alums and give advice to students looking at boarding school.
