Apprentices in animal care and horticulture are finding careers in conservation through Saint Paul’s flagship youth career development program
Dj Jones always wanted to be a zookeeper, and got an early start down that career path through Como’s teen volunteer Nature Walk program. While still in middle school, Jones gained valuable experience interpreting plants and animals for thousands of summer visitors, yet as they learned more about the traditional career trajectory toward becoming a zookeeper, they saw some serious roadblocks ahead.
“Becoming a zookeeper is not easy,” says Jones, who started college at Miami University in Ohio before moving to the University of Minnesota. Not only are there a limited number of positions in the field and an endlessly renewing population of young animal lovers, zookeeping has become increasingly professionalized and competitive in recent years, requiring college degrees in zoology, biology, animal science, and other related fields. To stand out against the competition, prospective keepers are expected to have a series of internships and volunteer work on their resumes, accumulating as many as two or three years of hands-on animal care experience even before they get hired. For young people who need paying jobs to cover college and household costs, the path ahead can feel impossible.
But thanks to the City of Saint Paul’s Right Track program, Jones has spent the last two years as a fully paid apprentice at Como Zoo, learning the ropes through a series of rotating assignments with professional mentors, while earning full-time pay in the process. “I have always understood that getting into this work would be a labor of love, with long hours on your feet and not great pay,” they say. “But this program has definitely made it more possible for me.”
Launched in 2014 as a partnership between the City of Saint Paul, the Saint Paul Public Schools, and the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, Right Track has established a growing pipeline of career development opportunities for underserved Saint Paul youth. While Como has hosted interns for decades, Como Zoo launched its own Right Track partnership in 2022, inviting youth from cost-burdened homes or facing other barriers to employment to take part in paid apprenticeships and early career experiences in animal care. The program has been so effective at cultivating a diverse, next-generation workforce that the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory soon joined in, offering youth new experiences in horticultural operations as well.
While the program is primarily funded by the City of Saint Paul, Como Friends has provided additional support over the years, for instance, providing grant money to help apprentices access the essential gear they need to succeed in their jobs, from campus uniforms to sturdy boots. That commitment grew in 2026 when Como Friends made the Right Track program a special focus of the Fund-a-Mission donation at the Sunset Affair gala on July 16. With cuts to federal funding that has supported Como’s apprentices, the goal is to match private contributions with funding from Minnesota’s Legacy Amendment to keep the successful program in place.
“Investing in The Right Track program is really about investing in the future of Como, and making sure that we have a workforce that really reflects the diversity of the community we serve. These are dream jobs for youth who want to work with animals and plants, but there are significant structural barriers to getting hired in this field that the Right Track program helps young people overcome,” says Katie Hill, president of Como Friends. “That’s exactly the kind of work we believe is essential to support at Como Friends—nurturing the next generation in this field—and we hope our donors see that it’s a win-win for everyone. Como benefits from the support of these talented and motivated youth apprentices, while young people get the career boost they need to find meaningful jobs in conservation.”
