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Bullets courtesy of
A $4 Million Museum
Run by Teens:
The Petaluma High Wildlife
and Natural Science Museum
By J.A. Beydler
© 1998 by Parents' Press
"Okay, guys, look at the map. This is Africa, where all the animals in this section of the museum are from. Can anyone find Cameroon?"
Six pairs of third grade eyes, and several fingers, scan the map. Hands shoot into the air as tour leader and Petaluma High School student Jennifer Reynolds nods and guides her charges over the bridge and into Africa.
Meanwhile, in a cramped work room tucked between science teacher Ron Head's classroom and the museum proper, a group of high school students listens attentively as 18-year-old Jessica Miller explains the care and feeding of fire bell toads. After a brief chat, they move purposefully to their duties, sorting mealworms, filling water dishes, returning animals to their exhibits.
This is the Petaluma Wildlife & Natural Science Museum, staffed and maintained entirely by students at California's Petaluma High.
And where is the teacher?
"Mr. Head teaches the other periods." says Jessica Miller, casually scanning the day's to-do list. "During this hour, we teach each other. And some of us lead tours."
Students teaching students? Students leading tours? Students with keys to a museum housing $4 million worth of inventory? Yup. Petaluma High School science teacher Ron Head is the instigator behind this unique, character-building educational process where high school students learn and teach each other a whole lot more than natural history.
Hidden on a back lot of the high school,
surrounded by portable classrooms, bike racks, and a concrete
dinosaur, the museum houses hundreds of taxidermy animals displayed
in naturalistic habitats, a saltwater tidepool and touch-pool,
a collection of live animals, plus mineralogy, forestry, and
paleontology exhibits.
Every day of the school year, a select group of very dedicated students meets here to exchange skills, and go about the business of running a museum.
This is no ninth grade science project; the displays are on a par with many municipal natural history museums, and the student docents are competent, engaging and patient enough to guide thousands of visitors through the museum annually.
Besides leading tours, they plan and implement exhibit upgrades, care for live animals, brainstorm fund-raisers to keep the iguana in mealworms, plus screen and select docents for the program.
In short, they do it all.
"They have to." declares teacher Ron Head. "We have a $4 million, 8,600-square-foot museum here. I can't do it alone. The program relies on students to come through, and they do. If they didn't, none of this would be here."
In 1989, Head responded to a tiny ad placed in the local newspaper by Santa Rosa's now defunct Codding Museum of Natural History asking for people interested in taking possesion of a few animal heads. He had no idea his call would result in a full-fledged museum on campus.
"The bottom line was that Hugh Codding
gave me everything in the old Codding Museum - about $1 million
worth of inventory. He also threw in some cash to build a structure
to house the museum.
"It took three years to get this building and get everything moved in. This is our fifth year here."
Most of the building and painting is done by students, often with the support of museum program alumni eager to offer their electrical or carpentry skills to the project.
To participate in Petaluma's High's museum program, students must first take one of Head's wildlife classes. Those who show a particular aptitude and interest submit a written application, followed by a peer review.
When asked if popularity plays a role in docent selection, Head's students snort with derision.
"No way." says Jessica Miller, "It's about who you can rely on. We don't want anyone in here who's going to slack. Whether or not we like each other, we have to work together to get things done."
Senior Laura Reimer, a first-year museum student, agrees. "It's a lot of responsibility. If we don't do it, it doesn't get done. And if things aren't done, animals get sick and die."
Ostensibly, this is a science program. But learning about wildlife is almost secondary to the real world skills students acquire in the program.
Skills like maintaining a good working relationship with co-workers. Skills like weathering a job application process with a "really terrifying" panel interview, and learning to evaluate fairly another applicant's character and commitment. Then there's public speaking and fund-raising.
These students are proud of their museum, as
well they should be. To Head's knowledge, it's the only student-run
museum program in the U.S.
"When I started teaching," says
Head, "I thought I would just be a regular teacher, and
go home when everybody else does. This has certainly changed
my life. The only reason I keep it up is because I see the way
the museum works as an education and growth process for kids."
Head points to the
diversity of the group with pride. "You
don't have to be an A student to be here. We're looking for commitment."
He mentions several "problem" students who blossomed in the museum program. "One girl flunked out of school and was sent to what kids call the 'Loser School.' She turned out to be a wonderful docent," smiles Head.
"Once the kids make the commitment, they take responsiblity for everything that happens here."
The Petaluma Wildlife & Natural Science
Museum is testament to what can happen when high school kids
are given respect and responsibilty.
Some of Head's students will move on to careers in Fish & Game or a veterinary practice, but most will not. But each of them will leave the program with a sense of pride and self-confidence that will ease their passage into the working world of adults.
Second-year museum student Casey Brechbill says, "A lot of what we learn here just isn't taught in a regular class." Maybe it should be.
The Petaluma Wildlife & Natural Science Museum is open to the public on the first Saturday of each month.
Admission is $1 per person. Group rates and school tours can be arranged by calling 707/778-4787.
Located at 201 Fair St. on the Petaluma High School campus, just west of downtown Petaluma, CA, about an hour north of San Francisco.
The museum is the only facility of its kind in
the nation; it exists without benefit of state or district funding,
relying solely on private donations, grants, and fund-raising
efforts.
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