By Cameron Baxley
August 21, 2025
What do you do the day before leaving for college? Pack? Say emotional goodbyes? Nope. If you’re Mya Huckeba and Isabella Nations, you climb aboard a boat with two Apalachiocla Riverkeeper folks who can’t stop talking about fish and floodplains.
On their very last day before college, our 2025 Katie Herzog Apalachicola Riverkeeper Scholarship winners joined Tom Herzog and me for a celebratory cruise up the Apalachicola River. We managed to dodge the usual afternoon storms and were treated to the river at its best- yellow lotus blossoms lining the banks, and swallow-tailed kites swooping through the skies like they own the place—which, to be fair, they kind of do.
Between admiring the view and trying to identify clouds that might ruin everything, we celebrated two students who are about to crush it in college.
Mya, the Valedictorian of the Franklin County High School Class of 2025, is heading to Florida State University, where she plans to study Environmental Science and Exercise Physiology. She wrote in her application, “Just as the bay and river support various species of fish, bivalves, and plants, my peers and loved ones supported me through my academic journey.”
Isabella, a sixth-generation Franklin County native, is off to Tallahassee State College to pursue a degree in Criminology. Her counselor described her as “motivated, organized, and hardworking”—and after spending the day with her, we couldn’t agree more.
Both Mya and Isabella are not only top students but also talented competitive dancers. Talk about well-rounded!
Tom and I were genuinely honored they spent their last day of summer with us, floating the river, dodging storms, and pretending that boat snacks count as a proper meal. Katie Herzog would have loved this—community, connection, and a healthy respect for the Apalachicola River.
So here’s to Mya and Isabella—future physical therapist, criminologist, and possibly professional dancers. Congratulations, ladies. Go make us proud. And if college ever gets stressful, just remember, the river will always be here-lotus flowers and all.
Cameron Baxley is Riverkeeper at Apalachicola Riverkeeper.
She can be reached at [email protected]