Kate, Ever, & Julia
Kate Iribarne, Ever Sick, & Julia Hudson (Lead Keepers: 2023-24)
*Original entry Fall, 2023
The inaugural Exotic Animal Husbandry class has debuted at PHS for the 2023/24 school year and the PWM’s first group of Lead Keepers is a Trio of Animal Care Excellence!
Senior Keeper, Julia Hudson, literally grew up on a farm taking care of her family’s menagerie of cows, sheep, goats, and chickens. She has a powerful and palpable love and connection to all types of animals and has formed an especially deep bond with Lance, our Russian legless lizard, and has become his biggest Champion! Julia is an accomplished water athlete (a powerful swimmer and water polo aficionado) and her warm-hearted demeanor and seemingly infinite patience shapes the culture of kindness we strive for here at the Museum; her radiant smile, especially when working with animals, always brightens the room! Julia is looking to attend UC Santa Cruz and is hoping to major in Political Science and minor in French. She’s not sure what she wants to pursue in terms of career pathways, but right now, her priority is having, caring for, and loving as many animals as possible (as it should be).
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Senior Keeper, Ever Sick, is one of the coolest folks you’ll meet at the PWM. They are dedicated to building and bridging a connection between our animal ambassadors and our visitors -especially with younger kids- and their calmness and care with any-and-every animal in the Museum is palpable and contagious. Ever’s work isn’t limited to the animals at the PWM as they also volunteer, concurrently, for professional exotic animal educator, Bonnie Cromwell of Classroom Safari. Ever’s skills are blossoming as a professional keeper under Bonnie’s watch and their experience and understanding of the world of husbandry grows by the day. Ever is a “pros-pro” when it comes to handling our more difficult to handle species at the PWM and they have become an easy and excellent role model for our aspiring keepers in the class. In the theater world, they say, “Never work with kids or animals” but I’d never say never to anything (when it comes to) Ever… After high school, they hope to pursue a double major in Acting and Animal Science and, I promise you, they will succeed on both stage and cage (forgive the pun, Ever… I tried! LOL!).
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Our resident “Invasive Species” from Virginia, Senior Keeper, Kate Iribarne, is a passionate young woman who dedicates almost all her time to the care and welfare of animals. Currently, Kate takes and TAs for both sections of the Exotic Animal Husbandry class, is a docent in the Public Speaking for Environmental Education class, is a 20-hour-per-week kennel assistant at Dairydell Canine Doggie Dude Ranch & Training Center, and runs her own side-business as a personal dog walker & dog sitter; Animals All-Day, Everyday! At the PWM, Kate is one of the primary keepers working with Olive, the sun conure, and our long-tailed chinchillas, Natalia & Abby. However, her animal heart belongs to Vizzini, our Chinese water dragon, and she can often be found walking around the PHS campus with the emerald green saurian in tow. Kate is planning to attend the University of Oregon in the fall of 2024 and major in Zoology and hopes, one day, to work alongside her father at the California Academy of Sciences. Kate is also a phenomenal baker and makes killer cake pops that put the Starbucks variety to shame.
*Original entry Fall, 2023
The inaugural Exotic Animal Husbandry class has debuted at PHS for the 2023/24 school year and the PWM’s first group of Lead Keepers is a Trio of Animal Care Excellence!
Senior Keeper, Julia Hudson, literally grew up on a farm taking care of her family’s menagerie of cows, sheep, goats, and chickens. She has a powerful and palpable love and connection to all types of animals and has formed an especially deep bond with Lance, our Russian legless lizard, and has become his biggest Champion! Julia is an accomplished water athlete (a powerful swimmer and water polo aficionado) and her warm-hearted demeanor and seemingly infinite patience shapes the culture of kindness we strive for here at the Museum; her radiant smile, especially when working with animals, always brightens the room! Julia is looking to attend UC Santa Cruz and is hoping to major in Political Science and minor in French. She’s not sure what she wants to pursue in terms of career pathways, but right now, her priority is having, caring for, and loving as many animals as possible (as it should be).
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Senior Keeper, Ever Sick, is one of the coolest folks you’ll meet at the PWM. They are dedicated to building and bridging a connection between our animal ambassadors and our visitors -especially with younger kids- and their calmness and care with any-and-every animal in the Museum is palpable and contagious. Ever’s work isn’t limited to the animals at the PWM as they also volunteer, concurrently, for professional exotic animal educator, Bonnie Cromwell of Classroom Safari. Ever’s skills are blossoming as a professional keeper under Bonnie’s watch and their experience and understanding of the world of husbandry grows by the day. Ever is a “pros-pro” when it comes to handling our more difficult to handle species at the PWM and they have become an easy and excellent role model for our aspiring keepers in the class. In the theater world, they say, “Never work with kids or animals” but I’d never say never to anything (when it comes to) Ever… After high school, they hope to pursue a double major in Acting and Animal Science and, I promise you, they will succeed on both stage and cage (forgive the pun, Ever… I tried! LOL!).
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Our resident “Invasive Species” from Virginia, Senior Keeper, Kate Iribarne, is a passionate young woman who dedicates almost all her time to the care and welfare of animals. Currently, Kate takes and TAs for both sections of the Exotic Animal Husbandry class, is a docent in the Public Speaking for Environmental Education class, is a 20-hour-per-week kennel assistant at Dairydell Canine Doggie Dude Ranch & Training Center, and runs her own side-business as a personal dog walker & dog sitter; Animals All-Day, Everyday! At the PWM, Kate is one of the primary keepers working with Olive, the sun conure, and our long-tailed chinchillas, Natalia & Abby. However, her animal heart belongs to Vizzini, our Chinese water dragon, and she can often be found walking around the PHS campus with the emerald green saurian in tow. Kate is planning to attend the University of Oregon in the fall of 2024 and major in Zoology and hopes, one day, to work alongside her father at the California Academy of Sciences. Kate is also a phenomenal baker and makes killer cake pops that put the Starbucks variety to shame.