What’s the best way to learn about an urban park? Get your hands dirty.
This summer, 19 young people from West Harlem and Washington Heights—including two returning “Teen Mentors”—spent eight weeks doing just that through Riverside Park Conservancy’s Teen Corps. They weeded and planted, watched birds, learned to identify native and invasive plants, discussed urban ecology and environmental justice, and helped care for the local landscapes they pass every day.
Along the way, the Park became something more than a place to visit. It became their classroom and their workplace.
From learning how to identify plants to planting them
Teen Corps is a paid summer internship that introduces local high school students to horticulture, environmental stewardship, and the work that goes into caring for New York City’s public parks.
The program combines lessons with hands-on work, so a conversation about the importance of native plants is followed by weeding a pollinator meadow; a lesson about how to control the spread of invasive species quickly turns into an afternoon spent tackling a slope covered in mugwort.
This year brought a Teen Corps first: the interns planted a garden themselves.
Participants had repeatedly asked for more opportunities to learn how to plant, so Conservancy staff added a planting day to the 2026 program. Working along the pathway at 119th Street, the teens planted native fox sedge (Carex vulpinoidea) and hairy beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus), learning how to prepare the soil, place young plants, and give them the best chance to establish and thrive.
It’s a small patch of the Park, but it gave the teens a chance to create something new that they can return to and watch grow.
A summer spent exploring
Over the course of the program, Teen Corps participants worked all throughout Riverside and Fort Washington Parks. They cared for pollinator meadows and gardens, weeded tree beds and pathways, removed invasive plants, collected litter, learned about composting and urban agriculture, and explored the birds and plants that make their home along the Hudson River.
They also learned about some of the bigger questions behind public landscapes: What makes a plant “native”? How is public land different from private land? How do urban green spaces support wildlife? And what does it actually take to care for a park used by thousands of people every day?
Some of the teens’ favorite experiences were also the messiest: working near the Conservancy’s goats, gardening and weeding, and spending a community partner day working at Maggie’s Garden.
Growing as leaders
One of the most important parts of Teen Corps is what happens when participants return year after year.
This summer’s two Teen Mentors each spent at least two previous years in the program. Instead of simply participating, they helped guide the new group of interns, sharing what they learned while developing leadership skills of their own.
For Teen Mentor Jeremy, that progression has also changed how he thinks about environmental science. When he first joined Teen Corps, Jeremy was far more interested in anatomy and health sciences than plants. Working in the Park changed that. He began noticing the ways plants compete, adapt, defend themselves, interact with other organisms, and respond to the world around them.
As he reflected in a blog he began writing this summer, Teen Corps helped make him more curious about a part of biology he hadn’t expected to enjoy.
That kind of discovery is exactly what Teen Corps is meant to make possible.
“After my first year Teen Corps, my perspective changed. I realized how cool and human-like plants really are. The way they interact with other organisms, the way they try to protect themselves, the way they grow and prosper is very similar to us humans. I thank this program for making me appreciate the environmental science aspect of biology and making me more open to new information.”
Building skills and the connection to their local Park
By the end of the summer, the teens had learned plenty about plants. But they had also practiced teamwork, problem-solving, observation, persistence, and the not-insignificant skill of spending a hot summer morning pulling stubborn weeds out of the ground with other people.
Most importantly, they experienced what it means to be a steward of a public place.
For eight weeks, these 19 young people weren’t simply visiting their local park. They were becoming part of the team responsible for making it healthier, more resilient, and more welcoming.
We’re grateful to the 2026 Teen Corps for an energetic summer of learning, working, and growing together. We can’t wait to see what they do next.
Teen Corps is generously supported by West Harlem Development Corporation and the Thomas & Agnes Carvel Foundation.
For more information on how you can support our Teen Corps program, please contact Olivia Cothren.