Fran Woodin, 2007
“. I was intrigued and decided to sign up. I have always been interested in nature and have degrees in biology and botany.”
Fran Woodfin
In 2007, or it could have been 06, I read about training for a new chapter of Master Naturalists called the Blackland Prairie Chapter. I was intrigued and decided to sign up. I have always been interested in nature and have degrees in biology and botany. Happily, I was accepted and went through the first training class with Sally Evans as the Training Committee chair. We met at the Allen Fire Station. Sally was a wonderful chairperson and I thought “she really likes me.” I found out later that everyone thought that she really liked him or her and she probably did. Another benefit of that first class….I met some of my best friends, to this day, there.
In that first class we had interesting speakers and some faculty members from TexasA&M were really entertaining. It was frustrating to me that lots of information was presented that I knew I would forget. How to remedy that problem? Join the Education Committee. Listen to speakers every year and maybe learn and remember something about the natural world. And no, I have never been bored listening to the same speakers and similar subjects every year. And it is always fun to meet the new students and share their passion for the natural world.
It has been my pleasure to work with all the Education Committee chairs…Sally Evans, LuAnne Ray, Greg Hayden, Jean Suplick, and Lisa Travis. I am amazed at all the work they put in to keep the classes running smoothly. I admire them all. Jean’s handling of the pandemic was incredible. While some chapters put their classes on hold, Jean got zoom classes up and running and we worked through the summer. Seems easy now but zoom was a new thing early in the pandemic and the technical aspects were challenging.
I hope to continue working with the chapter doing more fun things and meeting fellow naturalists and friends.
