The Dayton Society of Natural History and Boonshoft Museum of Discovery continue to improve their offerings to the community
It is my pleasure to serve as the CEO of the Dayton Society of Natural History. Deciding to move to Dayton in 2019 to fill this role was an easy decision as my husband, Ed, and I are both great fans of the arts and cultural institutions. We moved many times and lived in several states and even in Germany and England as we followed his career in the Air Force and now mine in museum leadership. The Boonshoft Museum fits well with my background in education, space science and animal husbandry, allowing me to apply many of the skills I have learned throughout my career while also learning new areas.
DSNH’s reach is far and wide and is a great example of the collaborative nature of Dayton. We have had strong legacy donors over the past 128 years including the Kettering, Boonshoft, Tait, Mathile and Wallace families. These donors, along with many others, have helped shape the Boonshoft Museum and saved the SunWatch site along with building an interpretive center and village representation.
We continue to update both locations through help from our sponsors and content from experts across the region and even the nation. Improvements are based on our strategic plan in alignment with community needs. For example, we recently partnered with the Tait Foundation and PNC to add more activities specifically serving toddlers. This project includes a new look in Kids Place to transform the area into an “outdoor” park including artificial grass, new interactive elements and climb-on structures, and facilitated workshops for families with toddlers. Partnering with other organizations not only brings us the necessary funding to complete these large projects, but also added expertise for designing, building, and assessing the impact of our programs.
We continue to move forward through this very challenging time while keeping the health and safety of our visitors and staff as our highest priority. We now do hourly sanitizations of all high touch areas, encourage all visitors to wear masks, encourage social distancing and we even installed a new UV light system as part of heating and air conditioning systems that cleans the air of virus and bacteria.
As we meet daily changing conditions, we are also looking at the future. We have some wonderful projects in the works including a complete renovation of the Bieser Discovery Center into the Bieser Room of Wonders and a new ECO Eatery. It’s easy to be excited to be part of such an important asset of the Dayton region!
Ultimately, we remain dedicated to our community—to teach a love of learning, an appreciation of cultures, empathy for living creatures and a foundation in science. We do this for you, for your children, for your grandchildren and the generations to come. n
The Dayton Society of Natural History is a natural history museum, a science center, a zoo, a planetarium and an observatory. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, Associations of Children’s Museums, Association of Science-Technology Center, Association of Zoos & Aquariums and American Camp Association.
By Tracey Tomme, President & CEO, Dayton Society of Natural History
