Petaluma Wildlife & Natural Science Museum

The Petaluma Wildlife Museum is, at its core, an organization dedicated to the growth, development, and success of its teenage docent staff; without them, our organization has no meaning and our mission would be incomplete. From the very beginning, under the tutelage of PWM founder, Ron Head, the entirety of the Museum has served as a tool to help our Petaluma High School students develop and acquire a toolbox of practical and social skills learned by running a fully-functional natural history museum.

In addition to the academic lessons of wildlife conservation and preservation, our students learn and practice all aspects of small animal husbandry, landscaping, facilities maintenance, public speaking, fundraising, project development and execution, and community service. By the time our students graduate from our program, they will have gained up to three years of leadership, team-building, and public speaking experience, learned first-hand the value of community service and power of empathy, and, hopefully, a gained a circle of friends and compiled an emotional scrapbook of memories that will last them a lifetime.