Photos by Kathy Smith
Teala Sadler’ (2025) completed her Capstone project, a bird hike that she planned, promoted, and led for HCA on December 13. She hand-painted flyers to catch attention and posted them around the city. She also put together a pamphlet of common birds to pass out to hike participants. The day before the hike she cleaned up the trail, and on the day of the hike she had hot drinks for the attendees. Teala then spoke about the basics of birding and led people on a one-mile birding hike.
Teala is one of two Master Naturalists from the 2025 class that went above and beyond requirements. Recently trained Master Naturalists have 15 months from the start of their training to complete 40 hours of volunteer work, 8 hours of advanced training, and a capstone project. For the 2025 class, their deadline is November 2026. Teala and Kathy Smith not only completed these requirements before January 1, but they both achieved over 80 volunteer and 16 advanced training hours—thereby certifying and recertifying within two months of their graduation! Congratulations to you both—Please don’t burn out!!
