Kristen Ewen
Kristen Ewen, U.S. Virgin Islands National Park – St. Croix
For Kristen Ewen, park biologist with the U. S. Virgin Islands National Park Service on St. Croix, mentoring Larissa Sweeney as a Navigating Home fellow in 2024 has been both rewarding and eye-opening. “Larissa is one of those rare interns where you think, I could hand over the program to you, and you’d run it like it’s your own,” Ewen said. “She sees the bigger picture, takes initiative, and fills in the gaps without being asked. That’s not something you teach—it’s who she is.”
Larissa’s journey into the Navigating Home program was anything but linear. After an internship with Ewen’s team in 2022, she realized how much she loved the work and even took a semester off from school to continue. When funding for her position ran out, Ewen turned to Dr. Kristin Grimes at the University of the Virgin Islands for help. “Kristin told us, ‘I have a bridge program so people like Larissa don’t fall through the cracks,’” Ewen recalled. “Through Navigating Home, Larissa could keep doing the work she loved while building a path to a permanent job.” By fall 2024, Larissa was hired as a full-time technician with the Park Service.
Larissa has contributed to major projects across St. Croix, from sea turtle monitoring and coral restoration to mangrove work. “She’s done it all—she’s part of our dive program, trained to operate boats, certified in chainsaw use, and now she’s teaching new interns how to handle turtles,” Ewen said.
Ewen noted that Navigating Home also fills gaps in professional training. “We do plenty of safety and technical training, but mental health training is something we’ve lacked,” she explained. “Navigating Home brings that to the table, and I think that’s just as important for young scientists as field skills.”
For Ewen, mentoring Larissa hasn’t just been about training someone to do the work—it’s about creating opportunities that didn’t exist before. Looking ahead, Ewen is eager to host another fellow. “One hundred percent, I’d do it again,” she said. “Programs like Navigating Home are how we build the next generation of local scientists and leaders.”
Sea turtles are a protected species. This research is performed under permit number ES 38906B-1
Kristen measures a sea turtle as she lays her eggs. Photo provided by K. Ewen
Kristin and Larissa examining a sea turtle as she lays her eggs. Photo provided by K. Ewen