I grew up Galena, Illinois, in the northwest corner of the state. Early on, I discovered my fondness for weather, watching the Weather Channel way more than I should have. When I was in middle school, I became a weather watcher for a local TV station, sending in weather reports every night. I continued doing so until I graduated from high school in 2003.
At Iowa State, I began participating in the student chapter of the American Meteorological Society as well as the semi-weekly public access weather show. Both of
these helped me grow as a meteorology student. Despite having quite a bit
of difficulty in some of my classes (calculusand physics), I managed to
stick with the program and have continued to build my knowledge. I owe a
great deal of thanks to the very knowledgeable individuals with whom I interned
at KWQC, KCCI, and KCRG, as well as my meteorology instructors who challenged
me to succeed.
After graduating from Iowa State in December 2007 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology, I was fortunate enough to be hired as the Weekend Meteorologist at WREX-TV in Rockford, Illinois in February 2008. During my time there, our severe weather coverage has expanded into a live chat on the weather blog when significant weather is in the offing. For both Severe Weather Awareness Week and Winter Weather Preparedness Week, I wrote 28 quiz questions - one for every single newscast during the week. I have also created content for a special seasonal section of wrex.com; during the winter, it contains ten articles of winter weather information with accompanying video. During the warm season, it contains information on severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. In addition, I write and edit a weekly "Going Green" package.
In September 2009, I was hired to be the Weekend Morning Meteorologist at KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
One of my career goals is to remain in the Midwest, a place that I am familiar with and am very happy to call my home. Beyond that, as long as I'm able to talk about the weather and help keep people informed and safe... then I know that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.