Page 173 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2025

Richardson says. “I’ve just been a chauffeur and photographer all this time. Johnson has her learner’s permit, but we’re not quite there yet for her to get
a driver’s license. I take pictures for her weekly trip.”
Most people in the Gulf Coast with access to fresh oysters eat them—raw, grilled, added to any number of recipes or many other delicious dishes. Nobody will eat these oysters. Eventually, Johnson will release them back into the wild to replenish native oyster beds ravaged by too much freshwater influence, multiple storms and other factors in recent years.
“I got the idea from my
Girl Scout troop leader,”
Johnson recalls. “Once
they’re done and the
season’s over, the oysters
get picked up and dumped
out into open water in Bay
St. Louis. These oysters are
not edible. They are for
restoration purposes only.
I’m focusing on protecting
marine ecosystems and
advancing sustainable
practices. In 2024, I
earned a certificate in
Master Oyster Gardening
through a program
supported by Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant and led by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. I also produced a short film, “Off-Bottoms Oysters,” highlighting the importance of biodiversity through storytelling and
youth engagement.”
Johnson received other awards for her
work including her Girl Scout Silver Award. She’s earning her Girl Scout Gold Award and was named a national delegate representing Greater Mississippi
oyster project. She earned a trip to Washington, D.C. In 2025, she received an award from the National Marine and Education Association for leadership in conservation among her many honors.
“The Slingshot Challenge is a contest where people submit
videos for something about sustainability,” Johnson explains. “My oyster project is a sustainability project. I made the video and talked about my project. I sent everything to them and won.”
She won a $1,000 scholarship for her project as the 2024 National Geographic Slingshot Challenge Significant Achievement Award recipient. In addition, she was named the People’s Choice Award runner-up.
“I am very proud of
her,” Richardson says. “It started as something very small. Then, she ended
up going to a National Geographic Slingshot Camp at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs. She was also invited to the National Geographic Explorers Festival in 2024. We went and it was phenomenal.”
Johnson plans to attend LSU or the University of Michigan
to study environmental science. After college, she wants to attend law school and practice environmental law.
and will travel to Washington, D.C. in July 2026 for the Girl Scout National Convention.
In 2024, Johnson won the National Geographic Slingshot Challenge for making her one-minute video on her
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