Youth & Young Adults

WCS Education is committed to inspiring a diverse and inclusive movement of conservation advocates and STEM professionals. Our work with youth is a centerpiece of this mission. Each year, over 1,800 youth ages 14 to 24 years old participate in enrichment, volunteer, internship, and employment opportunities across our five parks. The majority of these opportunities are at the Bronx Zoo, making WCS the largest employer of young adults in the Bronx.

The WCS Career Lattice is our integrated careers pathway program that aims to ensure that youth from historically excluded groups gain expanded entry points to opportunities at our parks and access to a suite of professional services and supports. The Career Lattice employs a three-pronged approach:

Connect and recruit local youth from historically excluded communities through outreach and partnerships;
Develop young people through support services, programming, work experiences, and skill-building workshops;
Advance young people in their professional journeys through leadership training and tiered professional opportunities.

The collective impact of this approach empowers young people to pursue meaningful careers, increase their social capital, and develop a conservation ethic.

View Career Lattice Reports

Check out the report archive

Act Now

How Can You Get Involved?

Volunteering

We train more than 400 youth volunteers annually on conservation education and science communication. Youth facilitate free, educational, advocacy-related activities with zoo and aquarium visitors and earn over 100 hours of community service.

Internships

We offer more than 30 different internship opportunities across our 5 NYC parks. These learning opportunities are gateways to STEM and conservation careers.

Jobs

Each year, over 900 youth launch their careers at WCS, gaining experience in diverse career areas from Business Services to Education to Special Animal Exhibits and more.

Support & Benefits

WCS Youth JIVE

The WCS Youth Job, Internship, and Volunteering Expo is an interactive annual opportunity for youth to learn about positions at WCS’s NYC parks, connect with hiring managers from a variety of departments, and attend employment workshops. Students from partner high schools, colleges, and our local communities are encouraged to attend. JIVE takes place in early February.

The STEP Series

WCS youth volunteers, interns, and part-time employees have opportunities for focused training and career exploration through a robust suite of skill-building workshops and a career talk series with professionals in diverse roles.

Youth Opportunities Newsletter

We maintain our relationship with youth that have volunteered, interned or worked for WCS via a monthly digital newsletter that is emailed to over 3,000 recipients. This newsletter highlights local events for youth, as well as employment opportunities at WCS and like-minded organizations in New York City.

Sci Network NYC

SCI Network NYC brings together 8 of New York City's science-based cultural institutions in 12 different locations to connect youth with more than 60 high quality internship opportunities.

Impact

Mentoring

WCS has spent years supporting youth who are serving in mentorship roles. This “Mentoring Training Toolkit” focuses on five key areas of mentoring and includes several easy-to-implement activities, linked resources, templates, and suggestions for adapting activities to a digital platform.

Elevating Youth Voice through Idea Generation

This is a practitioner’s guide for cultural institutions interested in eliciting meaningful feedback from the next generation of employees, while simultaneously contributing to their professional growth.

Research & Evaluation

We conduct ongoing research on strategies to increase STEM and conservation engagement for youth and share our impact.

The WCS Career Lattice is generously supported by the New York City Council, New York City Speaker, Institute of Museum and Library Services [ME-252972-OMS-23], Congressman Ritchie Torres, US Department of Education, Charina Endowment Fund, Inc., Gray Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, RBC Foundation USA, Bank of America, BNY, Con Edison, Citizens Philanthropic Foundation, The Walt Disney Company, Gail and Michael O’Neill, and numerous other individual, foundation, and corporate funders.