Meteorology: From Childhood Fascination to My Career

The story goes that there’s “a weather event” that sparks a person’s passion for meteorology. I don’t think that’s all there is to the story. I won’t deny that one weather event would lead to me studying meteorology in college, but there’s more to this interest than one event.

I used to be fond of computer games. I had my collection of CD-ROMs, many of them based around Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer, Barbie, and others I shared with my sisters. I remember playing one game many times: Little People Discovery Airport. I was fascinated by one minigame in particular: Maggie’s game. Her game was navigating through the weather conditions to get her to her destination, and then coloring in a picture that was taken of her at that location. While the weather navigation was simply going through a maze, I was fascinated by how a plane could fly in different weather conditions, and how a plane would sound different when it would drive on snow or normal pavement. This didn’t kick off my career or anything like that, but I like to think this had a hand in what was to come.

The first time I remember being entranced by the weather was when I was in kindergarten. For Christmas, I received a magnetic board that involved a bear with different outfits for different weather conditions, as well as different pieces that had a picture of weather conditions and the word of what it was. I would play with this board all the time as a kid. I loved dressing up the bear to be suited for different weather conditions. I suspect this toy was given to me to help me learn about what weather was at a basic level, as well as helping me learn how to read the words. It worked. I loved this toy as a kid.

My earliest memory of this next aspect that got me into weather begins in 1st grade, though I suspect I may been doing this one sooner and just can’t remember. My mother used to turn on the Today show every morning while she helped us get ready for school. While we were getting ready, the weather segment would come on and I’d watch it, wanting to know what the weather would be like for the day. I kept up this habit throughout the moves my family made over the years. Even though my surroundings were always changing, I could always rely on the local meteorologist to give me a quick synopsis of the day’s weather, and the weekly forecast. Eventually, this short blip of the forecast turned into a 3-minute slot on my weekday mornings when I reached middle school, as I was awake for the 6 am morning newscast. I made time to watch the forecast every morning, even though it meant sacrificing a bit of sleep each day. Note that I am not a morning person and sleep has always been precious to me. I will do anything to get even a little bit more of it. The weather has always been my exception. I would get up in the morning to watch it no matter what. It was always something I have been dedicated to.

There is one event that truly fascinated me and made me want to learn all about the atmosphere: Hurricane Irene. In August 2011, my family was planning on driving to Florida from our home in New York. This drive takes nearly a full day without stops, so it’s a trip we usually would break into 2 days. The fastest way to get there was to take a route that takes roads closest to the coast. There was just one problem: Hurricane Irene was supposed to make landfall on the coast of North Carolina the day we were originally planning on leaving for our trip. My parents were looking at the forecast, realized the severity of the situation, and we left in the middle of the day on a Thursday to start the drive to Florida. Our first day of travel was short since we left so late in the day. We stopped in Virginia for the night, determined to get through the Carolinas before the hurricane made landfall.

The route we took through the Carolinas was not the usual route we would take on a drive down to Florida. The fastest route to drive down to Florida would normally take us along the coast. We could not do that given the circumstances. My parents, using a combination of GPS and physical maps, took highways that were further inland, away from the coast. This resulted in us adding more time to the trip. I remember stopping at rest stops and taking a minute to see the weather news on TV monitors if they had it up. I watched the footage from hotel rooms, listening to the meteorologists' thoughts as to where this storm would go and how devastating it could be.

After my vacation ended, we went back home to upstate New York, where I got the news that my local area had been impacted by the rains from Hurricane Irene. While it did not make landfall in New York, nor was its center near my hometown in any capacity, the outer bands of the storm produced copious amounts of rain for my area, resulting in rivers flooding and fears of some weaker bridges being damaged. Once I got wind of these reports, I started thinking in the way my 12-year-old mind did. I wondered what it would be like to understand these storms; if we could predict them in a more precise way so that people would be more prepared. It was during this event that I started realizing this could be something I wanted to do.

For the next several years, any time a big weather event was happening near me, I watched the forecast and investigated things that I could understand without a degree. When I started thinking about where I wanted to go to college, I decided to start looking at colleges with a major in meteorology, but also schools that had a diverse array of majors that I could pick from should I not enjoy meteorology. I looked at a few schools in New York with meteorology programs and in Pennsylvania. In the end, I discovered Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. I learned they had a meteorology program and went to check it out. When I went there, I felt welcome and at home, even though I had only been to Indiana one time beforehand. Even if my brain didn’t know it at the time, my heart knew this was the place I wanted to be. I attended Valpo from 2017 to 2021, earning my bachelor's degree in meteorology with a minor in mathematics. I would continue my education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from August 2021 to August 2023, earning my master’s degree in Atmospheric Science.

There’s a lot I could say about my college experience, but for now, I want to tell you why meteorology. As cool as the weather is to me, that’s not the reason I ultimately chose to keep it as my major. In my professional career, I had one desire: to help others, no matter what our differences or similarities are. I watched my father, using his many talents, do this in the form of gift planning. He aided many non-profits in raising funds to secure their futures so they could aid the future generations to come. While this is what my father could do best, I am not my father. I am a person with different skills and abilities. I tend to focus on smaller details, looking at the intricacies of things. Using this, and my passion for meteorology, I believe I can aid people in my career. Weather is not limited to any one individual or small group. It impacts all of us. I hope that I can use my knowledge to improve our understanding of the atmosphere and maintain national security. I like to think that will help future generations and last beyond myself. My name may never be remembered, but it doesn’t need to be. All I want to do is ensure a better future for all of us. If I can play even a small role in that, I’ve done my job well.