Jenna Heffernan
Jk-west assistant teacher (she/her)
My first experience at Park West was as a student. My mother soon joined the staff at Park West as a teacher and then eventually became the director for many years. As a teenager I returned to work in the office as an assistant administrator and then the following summer as a camp counselor. I left Chicago to attend college at USC in Los Angeles. While a student, I worked within the LAUSD (LA public school district) tutoring and working in their after school program. At my LA school I was the director of Peace Games, a non profit organization teaching conflict resolution through non violent means. After college I continued working with children as a private nanny for 20 years. I moved back to Chicago last year with my son. I started substitute teaching at Park West in the winter and then joined the 4am East classroom as an inclusion aide in March. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience Park West as a student, as the child of a Park West teacher, as a teacher, and now as a parent myself. I’m thrilled to be working at a place where children and their ideas are taken seriously and the staff is dedicated to supporting each other and their students.