By Satenik Ayrapetyan
Every year the Los Angeles Zoo’s Teen Council for Conservation, comprised of 33 teenagers, learns about environmental issues in order to empower themselves and others to make change in their communities.
From October to June, the teen council focuses on conservation, climate change and environmental justice with an emphasis on youth leadership and career development. On March 15, students gathered for the Teen Council Conservation Symposium, a day of workshops and speakers with the theme of “Conservation is magic.”
Marta Segura, the City of Los Angeles Chief Heat Officer and director of the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office was this year’s keynote speaker, and she assured the Teen Council members, “I want to remind (youth) that maybe it is overwhelming, but they’re not alone.”
Anna Becker, who helps manage the Teen Council for Conservation and works for the zoo’s conservation division, said, “I think that we are in an integral moment where youth voices are really important.”
Since its launch in 2023, the Teen Council for Conservation has drawn 90 teenagers from across Los Angeles who participate in bi-weekly meetings at the zoo, where students from earlier years act as mentors. First-year students receive a monthly stipend of $300, and returning mentors receive $350.
“My favorite part has been to engage with other people,” said mentor Shayla Luna Serrano, 17, from South Central Los Angeles, who was a member of the Teen Council in 2023. “At the beginning, I remember everyone was really quiet. And now everyone is really familiar with each other and they talk to each other. It’s really nice to see.”
Every year the teen council chooses a new topic to focus on such as sustainability or community building. In 2025, the students have chosen “networking and connection.”
Through trips, projects and guest speakers, the students meet with professional conservationists from their communities and from across the globe. Speakers range from experts at the L.A. County Department of Public Health to conservationists at the Painted Dog Research Trust in Zimbabwe who work to save the endangered African painted dogs. And they meet with professionals to learn about efforts such as the California Condor Recovery Program.
Teen Council member Daniel Maya, 17, from Tarzana, says, “They’ve been really insightful,” citing a speaker who explained her efforts to confiscate wildlife that was taken illegally.
The students are given a chance to visit areas in the L.A. Zoo closed to the public to see the behind-the-scenes work by zoo employees.
And through scavenger hunts they learn more about the zoo’s different habitats, such as the Australia area, and they learn about conservation efforts across the globe.
Teen Council mentor Arabella Daly Rodriguez, 17, from Mid-Wilshire, who was on the 2022 council, says, “It’s super helpful when you get to actually go out and do those activities.”
Students participate in hands-on lab projects such as observing invertebrates like snails, slugs, worms and insects, and comparing which ones thrive near native and invasive trees in the Griffith Park ecosystem adjacent to the L.A. Zoo.
Every year, the Teen Council heads to Catalina Island to learn about conservation efforts by the Catalina Island Conservancy, the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, and the USC Sea Grant – a partnership that focuses on the “urban ocean.”
On Catalina Island, Teen Council members see plants and animals native to Catalina that make up the island’s ecosystem. Some animal populations on the island act differently due to a lack of predators, such as the deer population. Last year, the Catalina Island Conservancy nearly shot 1,700 deer to reduce the herd, but reversed its plan in favor of methods such as sterilization and relocation.
During the Catalina Island tour, students also learn what a marine-protected area looks like and they kayak and snorkel in the open ocean.
“It was a very beautiful experience hanging out in nature, it really showed me what there is to conserve and I feel like it’s important to keep that experience for future generations,” said Teen Council member Angelina Hongthong, 16, from Tarzana.
Back on the mainland, students took part in workshops such as “Mindful Choices” led by Circular Fashion L.A., an organization that tackles the “dual problems of post-consumer clothing and textile waste, as well as over-consumption of natural resources by the fashion industry.” Students learned about harmful carbon emission levels and alternatives to buying “fast fashion” such as thrifting instead.
At the workshop, students brought in clothes they didn’t want any longer. “This sorting workshop is just the first step, it’s just gaining experience, gaining knowledge of how to use post-consumer clothes,” said Karri Ann Frerichs, CEO of Circular Fashion L.A.
Frerichs added, “Ideally, they take the brainstorming and the experience that we’ll do today and take it to their own families, their own neighborhoods, their own communities and plan their own community events to keep textile waste out of landfills, and in use, to combat fast fashion.”
Next, the Teen Council for Conservation will take time to reflect on what they have learned and plan for future actions.
Tarzana teenager Hongthong summarized her time on the Teen Council as, “I’ve been taught how important the environment is and I want to do more for it.”