Staff Spotlight, Jessica Ryan
Park Ranger, Jessica Ryan
Perdido Key State Park
Jessica Ryan is a Florida native, having grown up in Miami, Florida. She has always had a love for the outdoors. In fact, she was scouting up until college. She says that her desire to be a park ranger skyrocketed during her high school and college years and ultimately led her to being a park ranger at Big Lagoon, Perdido Key and Tarkiln Bayou State Parks.
What Jessica loves most about the outdoors is the fresh air and the peacefulness of the outdoors. She says “It provides an escape from a busy community of people always rushing in their car to get things done. I also get to see and learn about many different types of animals and plants that I could only find in the wild.”
Jessica was led to a career with the Florida Park Service because she had a desire to interact with people in an outdoor setting and work outdoors rather than inside. You can most often catch Jessica working on the boardwalk or picking up trash on the beach. What drives her as a ranger is the ongoing opportunity to work outside and keep the environment clean and healthy, often participating in coastal cleanup events. Her favorite thing about the park is watching the sunset over Perdido Key and simply taking in the view. In the future, Jessica sees herself still working at Big Lagoon, Perdido Key and Tarkiln Bayou State Parks helping to inspire visitors to protect the park as she does.