Our Team

Bridget grew up ‘around the bay’, first in Marystown on the beautiful Burin Peninsula where she spent many hours exploring the tidal pools of Mortier Bay. When she was ten years old, her parents bought a restaurant and gas bar on the Trans-Canada Highway near Glovertown, where Bridget worked as a waitress, cashier, and cook during her teenage years. However, taking over the family business was not for her and she went on to pursue a degree in Marine Biology at Memorial University and worked for a time at the Ocean Sciences Center in Logy Bay.

After an interview on CBC Radio she was encouraged to become a teacher and went on to teach high school science, first on Fogo Island and then in Gander and St. John’s. Bridget moved into administration in 2003 and spent the next 18 years as principal of two large high schools in St. John’s before retiring in 2021. Since that time Bridget has been busy putting her technology skills to use designing web sites and graphics as well as writing, editing and directing. She is married to Douglas Ballam who she met at the Marine Biology Field Station in Bonne Bay and almost 40 years later they still enjoy travelling the province together playing “John and Janet Foster”. Bridget is excited to be part of the McCarthy’s team and can’t wait to share stories of the biology, history and culture of this amazing province.