A Positive Forecast

Rachel – future NASA meteorologist

With my future in Meteorology, it's all sunny skies for me. I'm Rachel, and I want to be a meteorologist, more specifically, a NASA Meteorologist. I have wanted to be a meteorologist since I was in the third grade. I want to be a meteorologist because I love weather! I love to learn about it and always look for more ways to do that.

I previously attended a week-long summer Mesonet Weather Camp at the University of Oklahoma, and this past summer I was thrilled to be accepted to the Meteorology/ Atmospheric Science summer camp. It was a dream come true! I got to sleep and study meteorology on the campus I hope to attend!

I went back to Oklahoma to the National Weather Center on November 5 to celebrate the National Weather Festival. It was fun, and I got to watch the launch of weather balloons and visit with meteorologists and atmospheric scientists. I learned about different types of truck-mounted radar. I do not tire of this!

This year at school, I was appointed to do all the video announcements for my school, and one of my favorite things is doing the weather report on camera!

The education required to be a meteorologist is a Bachelor's Degree in Meteorology, I intend to earn a Master's Degree at Texas A&M University. I have to study a lot of math and science. I purchased some Meteorology textbooks at the used-book store and have been reading them at home for fun. I enjoy checking my rain gauge, and I am making plans to build my own backyard weather tower.

Meteorologists have many different professional opportunities. They can be on the television news to inform people about current and coming weather or they can stay behind the scenes and make the calculations for the predictions. Some meteorologists fly into hurricanes and chase storms to study them. Although those tasks can be exhilarating, I want to be a NASA meteorologist so I can study all kinds of changes in the atmosphere.

I will have opportunities for this job in the future when I go to Texas A&M and gain my Meteorology degrees. I forecast a sunny future in Meteorology!