Four students from Cat Island - Jurique Russell, Donea Burrows, Deshone Johnson and Terran Moss, were accepted to be young ambassadors from Cat Island on an exchange program to Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C., by the school's Principal Maria Tukeva and three students from her school - Lauren, Saba and Jumar - who came to Cat Island to attend the 2nd Annual Cat Island Earth Day in April.
The Bell Multicultural High School students helped the students clean up the beaches on the island's northern coast and were challenged to create an art piece to enter into an eco-art competition, in which they came in second place. Then the Bell Multicultural High School students invited the Cat Island students to visit them at their school in Washington, D.C. From the proceeds from Earth Day events, along with the support of very generous sponsors, the students departed Nassau on October 17 with their chaperone Pamela Poitier for a two-week exchange program, where they lived with host students and got a real taste of life in Washington, D.C. They went to school, wore their uniforms and took classes alongside their hosts in Chinese, Yoga, wood craft, football, and returned the favor by helping clean up the Anacostia River. They also spent the day at a horse farm as guests of Principal Tukeva and learned how to clean the horses and their stalls, put tack on them and ride them as well. It was a life-changing experience the students will never forget.
The Cat Island students toured the White House, the Capitol building, the Smithsonian Institute, the National Air & Space Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall, Howard University and Lincoln University.
The students have vowed to restart the recycling club on Cat Island, and become the young ambassadors to the next group of students on their exchange trip to Washington, D.C. Jennifer Calaria, who created the Cat Island Earth Day two years ago, was thrilled to give the students the exposure that allowed them to see the world and their part in it, and most importantly how good they have it on Cat Island, how they can help preserve the island and celebrate their own history and heritage.

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