Jenna Levendosky

Jenna Levendosky is Freshkills Park Education Coordinator for the NYC Parks and Recreation Department. Jenna is a native Staten Islander, and grew up in the Westerleigh neighborhood. Jenna’s interest in the outdoors and conservation  started at a young age since her father was a zoo keeper at the Staten Island Zoo, which led to Jenna’s first job there where she stayed for 12 years. Growing up every summer family vacation was a camping trip somewhere on the east coast, the trips led Jenna to explore the natural world, looking for frogs, catching lightning bugs, or listening to the birds. Jenna pursued cinema studies and communications in college while still working at the zoo, but after a friend told them to apply to be an Urban Park Ranger with the NYC Parks Department, she quickly looked into the job and applied to be a seasonal Park Ranger as well as Parks Enforcement, in 2016 Jenna was offered a job with Parks Enforcement, and at the end of 2017 became a Mounted Parks Officer where she stayed for several months before being offered to transfer over to be an Urban Park Ranger. Jenna held this title for 8 years in Staten Island, in that time Jenna not only ensured the safety of the parks and its patrons but performed numerous animal rescues in our parks, but conducted and led countless school and public programs for Staten Islanders and New Yorkers. In her time as a Ranger, Jenna got the Rangers involved in Citizen Science projects like Horseshoe Crab Monitoring, Christmas Bird Count, Diamondback Terrapin Project- partnerships and collaborations with the Staten Island Zoo, Greenbelt and Freshkills! During her time as a Ranger Jenna’s favorite part of the job was teaching future generations about the great outdoors, wildlife and the importance of conservation and keeping our wild spaces wild, and getting to see the sparks in the student/participants eyes as they learned more. Jenna is excited to begin her new role as the Education Coordinator for Frshkills Park, and eager to jump into her role and begin planning and organizing programs for New Yorkers and visitors alike!