Alumni Spotlight: Heavenly

Congratulations to Heavenly Evangelista who is now an official Police Officer with the New York City Police Department! Heavenly first came to Concrete Safaris with her elementary school for Green Exercise Days in our gardens. When she was 14, she saw our logo on the Summer Youth Employment Program’s list of Providers, and signed up. She became one of the Outdoor Play Cohort Interns leading JungleGym and other outdoor events for 1000’s of neighbors into her teen years. By high school, she accepted a school year internship with CS, and started as a Health Promotion Intern, learning social media, marketing, communications, event planning, and finance. She then studied the links between outdoor play interventions and gun violence in our immediate area. During college, she became an NYPD Cadet. Heavenly recently graduated from John Jay where she majored in Forensic Psychology and ran Women’s Cross Country. She also finished the NYC Marathon. Last month, Heavenly graduated from the Police Academy. Congratulations to Heavenly, and her family on this tremendous achievement!