Biloxi, Miss.
Demi Johnson, a ninth-grader from Biloxi, Miss., will travel soon to the nation’s capital for the National Geographic Explorers Festival scheduled for June 13.
Her trip came after she became a top-15 finalist for her award with the Slingshot Challenge this spring. She also received her Girl Scout Silver Award for her research with the Mississippi Oyster Gardening Program.
“I’m happy and I’m proud. I want this to be a fun one and one that I can talk about to others. I just want it to be really informational,” Johnson said.
As an environmental project, Johnson started her oyster farm at Schooner Pier in Biloxi when she was in the seventh grade. Once a week, she visited her farm to clean debris and predators off the oysters with the help of the Department of Marine Resources.
Johnson shared that from September 2022 through March 2023, she was provided four cages located in the St. Martin Bayou. Johnson’s site produced over 1,000 oysters this year that will in turn spawn millions of larvae into the ecosystem, a huge ecological impact. September 2023 through March 2024, six cages were located at Schooner Pier.
As of March 27, 2024, Johnson had produced 1,100 oysters. Johnson, along with other Gulf Coast youth, partnered with the Walter Anderson Museum of Art (WAMA) in Ocean Springs, Miss. for the National Geographic Society Slingshot Challenge. It’s an initiative to identify the next group of problem solvers and productive advocates of the planet.
“I made a video and I submitted it and ended up being the final 15. Then I found out I got $1,000 to go towards my oysters,” Johnson exclaimed.
Julian Rankin with WAMA shares more about the goals Slingshot Camp provides.
“We were really able to connect what Walter Anderson is all about which is investigation, inquiry, and nature but creativity and storytelling as well,” Rankin said. “So, she brought in her own experience, her own passions. We didn’t know about all the wonderful work she’s been up to then we were about to delve into science and equip her to share that story to the world.”
Out of more than 2,100 submissions, Johnson was awarded a recipient in the Slingshot Challenge from National Geographic Society. Johnson competed globally and was one of two students recognized in the United States.
She won the 2024 Significant Achievement Award for “Off Bottom Oysters,” with a $1,000 dollar scholarship. She later donated her winnings back to the Mississippi Oyster Gardening Program.
Her efforts spearhead a community education program to create oyster gardens and restore Mississippi’s threatened oyster reef population.
“I’ve learned a lot from it. I’ve had good experiences and I plan to continue with this,” Johnson said.
