Why the Weather?

Today Frank Johnson has a high school student shadowing him to see what being a TV meteorologist is all about. She's a junior in high school, trying to narrow down college options and even career choices. Thinking back, it hasn't been terribly long since I was in that same boat. But then I think of all that has happened since then: the places I have gone, the people I have met, and the experiences I have obtained.

When I was a junior in high school, I was busy focusing on keeping those grades up and balancing all the extracurricular activities that would later find their way onto college applications. I had an idea that I wanted to be involved in TV news, but meteorology hadn't ever occurred to me as a career path. I am not one of those who knew from the time I was little that this was for me. Sure, growing up in the midwest where weather can vary greatly from season to season, month to month, day to day, and even hour to hour made me aware of the weather. Hey, it's often a topic of small talk no matter where you grow up. But like other things, my education and even my vocation worked themselves out. Now I can't imagine it any other way.

Most meteorologists choose a college after they choose their major. But me, I fell in love with Valparaiso University then decided that meteorology looked like a good time. That was before I realized how many semesters of physics and calculus were required! Math and science had always been my strong suits, but this left me more challenged than I had ever been in my life. But by this point, I had fallen in love with meteorology and found myself sitting in semester after semester of classes in the engineering and science buildings. Now, here I am. A meteorologist. It has become part of my identity. It has guided where I have lived, the people I have met, and the person I have become. And to think- all because I thought it sounded interesting. Sometimes I guess that's all it takes.

Not being that far out of school, I should be able to offer advice. But when people told me back then how much growing and learning I still had left ahead of me, I didn't believe it. It's a never-ending process and maybe just something you have to figure out for yourself.

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