Born and raised in Rancho Cordova, Katie Hartle attended one of Splash’s field trips when she was in fifth grade with her mother as a chaperone. She was very impressed with what she experienced. Not long after that, her mother, Lu-Anne, started working at the Splash Center. Katie has been around ever since.

Katie really values the opportunity that Splash gave her back then, she loves the fact that kids do not only read about nature in books or see pictures on the internet, but thanks to this program, they get to come here and see nature personally.

Science class was always very fun and interesting for Katie, she found biology very fascinating. Katie’s mom has always had salamanders at home and that influenced Katie to develop a curiosity about animals and their ecosystems.

Spadefoot toads are Katie’s favorite critters because of how cute they are. She also has a soft spot for the California Tiger Salamander because that was her critter when she came on a field trip to Splash.

In 2013, Katie got her Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and a few months ago, she officially became Sacramento Splash’s accountant.