Friends of the Everglades is pleased to announce the Karen Mashburn Environmental Scholars Program scholarship and internship. One undergraduate or graduate recipient will be awarded $10,000 and participate in a 12-week Fall 2024 internship at Friends of the Everglades, helping to support the Young Friends of the Everglades program and engage in community outreach. The intern will develop a wide range of skills including communications and instructional skills and gain an understanding of governance and guidelines in the nonprofit arena.

Deadline to Apply: May 15, 2024

History: Karen Mashburn was a long-tenured member of the Friends of the Everglades Board of Directors who was instrumental in establishing and stewarding the Young Friends of the Everglades youth education program. During her lifetime, more than 100,000 students in Miami-Dade County participated in Young Friends of the Everglades and were inspired by the legendary leadership of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the importance of preserving the only Everglades in the world. In 2023, Karen’s husband, Jerry Mashburn, made a gift to Friends of the Everglades allowing for creation of the Karen Mashburn Environmental Scholars Program in her memory.

Autumn Bryan became the first recipient of the Karen Mashburn Environmental Scholars Internship and Scholarship, awarding $10,000 to her academic efforts. Autumn, a graduate student in Library and Information Science at the University of South Florida, and Geoscience at Florida Atlantic University, plans to pursue a doctorate in Environmental Literature. She has published articles about climate change, wildlife conservation, and environment endangerment. She volunteers as a digital archivist, serves on a wildlife conservation organization’s board of education, and has founded a Teen Environmental Alliance club at her local library. Autumn plans to continue to encourage awareness around youth services, wildlife conservation, and environmental education through her work in libraries, research labs, and nonprofit organizations.

To learn more about Autumn, read her application essay.