Friends of the Everglades is pleased to launch the fourth year of our Karen Mashburn Environmental Scholars Program scholarship and internship.
Will you be next? In summer or fall 2026, one undergraduate or graduate recipient will be awarded $10,000 and participate in a 12-week internship at Friends of the Everglades in Stuart, Florida. While supporting the work of the Young Friends of the Everglades program, the intern will complete a capstone project aligned to their interests and area of study.
Please feel free to share this opportunity with environmentally motivated students in the South Florida area.
Deadline to apply: February 15, 2026
Interested in what this internship might look like for you? Our 2025 recipient Sophia Lima (featured in the video above) shared some insights about her experience as an intern with Young Friends of the Everglades this summer. Take a look at what she had to say.
Why do you want students to learn more about birds?
Sophia: I think a lot of people can be interested in birds because they’re colorful, they do cool things, they fly, they’re beautiful. A lot of times setting up a bird feeder or just starting to watch birds in your yard can be a really good way to move into conservation as a whole. So as kind of a gateway to loving the rest of the environment, we can start through loving birds.
Sophia developed “The Everglades Egg Thief” — a mystery board game where students uncover clues to determine the culprit behind a bird’s missing egg in the Everglades.
Tell us a little about your Capstone Project.
Sophia: My capstone project is a series of lessons about Everglades birds and adaptations they have to survive in the wild. These adaptations include things like what the shape of their bill or feet tell us about what they eat or how they move. The lessons are really hands-on. Students learn by doing things like playing games, designing unique Everglades birds, or making bird banding bracelets.
How has this internship helped you grow, whether it be personally, academically or professionally?
Sophia: I’ve worked in environmental education before, but I’ve never developed my own lessons or programs. It’s been a really interesting change of mind for me to look at things through the eyes of a third grader. I’ve had to ask myself things like, “Is this going to be interesting to them? Are they going to be engaged in it? Is it going to meet their needs educationally?” Having that new mindset is kind of a reframe for me in building lessons. I’ve also learned a lot about classroom management by working with Amanda.
I think I have an edge up having done this internship over the summer. In my classes this fall, we’ll 
be using some of the same books that we used this summer to prepare lessons, and I think that will be a great help.
I learned a lot about myself and how I would like to engage as an educator in the future. This internship has been a really great thing for me.
What do you like about being involved with youth education?
Sophia: Kids are so open minded. They really have a creative and imaginative way of looking at things. And I think that blends really well with conservation and fostering a love for the environment.
During one of my lessons, a kid created his own Everglades bird. Afterwards, he came up to me and was really, really excited. He wanted to show me all of the things that his bird could do. Then, he really wanted me to keep it. And I thought that was really sweet – that he would trust me with his creation and just be so open to sharing it with me.
I think an important part of science is communication. So being able to communicate scientific topics to kids helps a lot with communication with the general public. If you know how to streamline and say things in a way that’s accessible and approachable for even the youngest members of the audience, those skills transfer to adult audiences.
