Where it all began
Enjoying the blizzard of '96
I grew up in a small town in southern New Jersey called Berlin. It is known for being Kelly Ripa's, the host of "Live! with Regis and Kelly," hometown. When I was younger, playing house with my friends from school, I could tell I was a little different. While my friends would pretend they were doctors, nurses, or teachers, I would pretend I was reporting the weather right in the midst of the snow storm. My love for the weather really came from my love of watching the morning news. Every morning before school, I would watch the news, especially the weather segment. I was fascinated by the radar moving behind the meteorologist and the way the graphics magically shifted from one screen to the other. I also thought it was fascinating that they could look into the future and predict the weather like a psychic.
As I got older, I realized that these meteorologists were not psychics. They were highly trained in their field to look at models, satellites, radars and current observations to accurately predict and effectively communicate the weather for their audience. The Blizzard of 1996, Hurricane Charley that interrupted my Florida vacation in 2004, the Valentine's Day blizzard of 2007, and the many storms that popped up on the beach while I played in the sand at the Jersey Shore are just some of the few significant weather events that have triggered my yearning to make meteorology my career path. I credit these events to leading me to pursue meteorology at Pennsylvania State University.
As I got older, I realized that these meteorologists were not psychics. They were highly trained in their field to look at models, satellites, radars and current observations to accurately predict and effectively communicate the weather for their audience. The Blizzard of 1996, Hurricane Charley that interrupted my Florida vacation in 2004, the Valentine's Day blizzard of 2007, and the many storms that popped up on the beach while I played in the sand at the Jersey Shore are just some of the few significant weather events that have triggered my yearning to make meteorology my career path. I credit these events to leading me to pursue meteorology at Pennsylvania State University.
My Years at Penn State
As soon as I stepped foot onto campus at Penn State, I hit the ground running. I wanted to get involved in as much as I could, meet as many people as I could, and learn as much as I could. My friends could agree that I achieved this when they nominated me to speak at our annual College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Exposition (EMEX) as the "Most Involved Student" in front of the college's perspective students. Taking advantage of all the opportunities here at Penn State, I immediately got involved with all of the Meteorology clubs like Campus Weather Service, PSUBAMS (Penn State's Branch of the American Meteorological Society). I also decided to get involved in clubs outside of meteorology that would allow me to give back to the community and my university. Those clubs included The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Student Council, Penn State's Dance Marathon (THON), and Lion Ambassadors. If you would like to read a little bit more about my experiences in these activities, below I've added little blurbs and pictures about each club.
Campus Weather Service
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With Campus Weather Service, I have served on both Forecasting Shifts as well as Communications Shifts. With the Forecasting Shifts, we work as a team of student meteorologists to produce a forecast discussion and a five-day forecast for the ten different zones of Pennsylvania. These forecasts appear on Campus Weather Service's website at http://www.cws.met.psu.edu, as well as Penn State's newspaper, The Daily Collegian. With the Communications Shift, we work as a team again to produce, edit, and upload a video forecast for the website and our YouTube account as well as send out audio forecasts to our radio clients.
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One of my Communication Shifts freshman year. We would pretend to have our own weather shows and each of us would have a job. This time I was the host/traffic reporter.
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PSUBAMS/PSUCNWA
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PSUBAMS stands for the Penn State Branch of the American Meteorological Society while PSUCNWA stands for the Penn State Chapter of the National Weather Association. Both allow the Penn State meteorology students to network with many meteorologists in all the different fields of meteorology as well as spread awareness and knowledge to the community about the science behind weather. The club also sends students to the National Weather Association and the American Meteorological Society Conference every year. This past year I got to be a Student Assistant at the American Meteorological Society Conference in New Orleans. I credit PSUBAMS for allowing me to get that position which allowed me to meet so many meteorology students from different universities as well as professionals in the industry. I was also able to attend AMS Broadcast Meteorology Conference in Boston as well as the NWA Annual Broadcast Meteorology Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.
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The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Student Council
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I got involved in The College of EMS Student Council as soon as I could. Through Student Council, I have been able to mentor a group of freshman every year, speak about the College to accepted students at our annual exposition called EMEX, fundraise for Relay for Life, keep in contact with the GEMS (Graduates of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences), volunteer at the local Nursing Home as well as clean-up local reservoirs.
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Penn State's Dance Marathon (THON)
With my Communications Committee for THON 2010
With College of EMS THON during the first Canning Weekend for THON 2012
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Penn State's Dance Marathon, popularly called THON, is a year-long fundraising effort that culminates in a no-sitting, no-sleeping 46 hour dance marathon that raises money for the Four Diamonds Fund, which helps families whose child has been diagnosed with pediatric cancer. I have been involved with a Communications Committee each year, whose duty is to spread awareness and facts about THON throughout Penn State, the surrounding community, and throughout the United States. My sophomore year, I was in charge of creating a newsletter to update middle and high schools about upcoming THON events and how they can get a THON-related event started at their school.
I have also been involved in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences THON organization. We take it upon ourselves to fundraise throughout the year by going on "canning weekends," hosting pizza sales, selling bracelets, having penny wars, Date Auctions, as well as contacting our alumni. |
Lion Ambassadors
With my committee within Lion Ambassadors at a formal event
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Lion Ambassadors is Penn State's Student Alumni Corps. We instill Penn State tradition and history to the community by hosting tours for perspective students, alumni, and special visitors. We also host numerous events throughout the year that highlight some of Penn State's traditions like Guard the Lion Shrine before every Homecoming football game, to hosting Lantern Tours, which takes visitors and students on a path throughout campus that tells a story about the history of Penn State.
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