FALL 2026
ALWAYS SHOWING UP The Unwavering Embrace of Dani Higgins by Forrest White
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one little girl said. “I knew you were coming.”
urricane Milton still packed mighty winds in October 2024 when it swept past Mulberry, battering the area’s already fragile migrant housing.
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“That meant a lot to me because I realized she wasn’t necessarily saying I was going to solve everything,” Higgins said. “She was saying, ‘I knew someone was going to show up.’ I can’t always make a big difference. But sometimes, showing up is the difference.”
There was no power in its wake. page
Food supplies, already thin, were dwindling. Fear and uncertainty hung over everyone.
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But then Dani Higgins showed up. The children ran to her that day, as they always do when she arrives in their community.
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“I saw the food was here,”
2026-27 W O
“What started as a job became a calling,” she said.
Since becoming a migrant advocate with Polk County Schools in 2005, Higgins has been a constant in the Mulberry community, working alongside migrant and farmworker families.
In 2023, she became principal of RCMA Mulberry Community Academy. This fall, she transitioned to a CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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