This past summer, FRIENDS welcomed Journey Higgs to our team. Journey is one of the 2024 Bahamas Environmental Steward Scholars (BESS). She is originally from Elbow Cay, Abaco, but moved to Nassau in 2019 in order to finish high school post Hurricane Dorian. In April 2024, she was accepted as a BESS scholar for Fall 2024 and will attend the Cape Eleuthera Island School’s 2025 Spring Semester. Upon moving back to Abaco in August 2024, Journey began her sub-internship at Friends of the Environment (FRIENDS) in Marsh Harbour.
Having grown up on a small island where they depend greatly on the environment, her childhood was heavily influenced by understanding the importance of sustainability and the protection of our natural resources. In 2019, after experiencing Hurricane Dorian, she observed that the surrounding ecosystems of her island community were absolutely devastated. This fostered her greater desire to become actively involved in environmental advocacy, education, and restoration. Becoming an intern at FRIENDS felt the natural next step for Journey. From a very young age, she found herself involved in many of their summer camps, after school programs, science fairs, and their more recent Pre-college Ocean Discovery and Science Program (PODS) in 2023. Through this exposure and education, she developed a very strong passion for Abaco’s environment and became aware of the importance of the conservation of its limited resources.
As an intern at FRIENDS from August to December of 2024, Journey developed many vital skills, both within and outside of the office. In the field, she worked alongside Denise Mizell, FRIENDS Board Member and Abaco Program Manager for the Perry Institute for Marine Science, and with other board members at FRIENDS to collect and disperse red mangrove propagules in the Marls of Abaco, which were destroyed by Hurricane Dorian. Their efforts resulted in the dispersal of just over 100,000 propagules. Journey also assisted with FRIENDS’ summer camps and after school programs which reiterated how important education is in bringing about environmental awareness.
Journey also gained experience from shadowing her supervisors, Cha Boyce, the Development Director and Olivia Patterson-Maura, the Executive Director at FRIENDS. She assisted them both in event and fundraising planning. This included the annual Turtle Trot that takes place on Thanksgiving and raises funds that aids FRIENDS with their environmental education programs and conservation and sustainability efforts. Alongside this, was the Combustion Music Hope Town Music Festival. This event also donates a portion of funds raised to FRIENDS’ efforts as well as other deserving local charities. As a musician herself, Journey found it absolutely rewarding to be part of this event as it combined two of her interests: the environment and music. Journey also participated in the setup of FRIENDS’ annual Science Fair and strengthened her public speaking and presentation skills through outlining the BESS Programme to a local high school and assisting with a field trip of a visiting school.
On reflection about her participation in the program Journey said “I think that my experience as an intern at FRIENDS and as a BESS Scholar has provided me with many connections, exposure, and skills that will serve me well in the future. I am grateful and appreciative to be a BESS Scholar and hope that my passion for creating awareness about environmental sustainability, conservation, and protection will continue to grow deeper as I begin my journey at the Island School.”
FRIENDS is grateful for the impact Journey had as part of our team and we wish her all the best as she moves on to the next stage of her BESS experience at the Island School!
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