Evaporation, Precipitation, Condensation and then it all begins again!

     Finally! I have an internship and I cannot tell you just how excited I am to finally be doing something that I love!
      I have always had this fear throughout college that I wasn't studying for what I wanted to do with my life. I mean you can go through all these classes but how do you really know what you want to do unless you haven't experienced the job to it's full potential. That's why I think it is vital that students take on internships to help them realize, "hmmm...is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life?"
      I always thought I wanted to be a news reporter- I always liked to be in front of people since I was in theater for so many years. And then I started taking journalism classes and I began to realize that maybe this wasn't the right job for me. I got this feeling that something just wasn't right.
      I remember always having this weird interest for weather. Since fifth grade I remember my teacher teaching us the water cycle song. And it went something like this:
     Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation,
     And then it all begins again! Cha Cha Cha
To this day I still remember going home and singing that song over and over and over again. So when college started any "free" classes that I had to take were classes dedicated to weather because I couldn't help but get excited about learning about hurricanes, winds, and other weather phenomenas (I know I'm a geekster).
     So when it came time to choose a minor, I knew exactly what I wanted to do: something related to weather. The more weather classes I took the more I began to realize that I did want to work in a news station, just not as a news anchor but as a weather woman.
     Finally, I got an internship with KVOA News 4 in the weather department and from Day 1 I realized this is the perfect job for me! Even though I have to be up at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays...yeah that's right not 2:30 p.m. but 2:30 a.m. I am so excited to come to my internship everyday because I am learning so much!
      Okay so let me kind of catch you up on what I have been doing for the past couple of weeks. My mentor is Meteorologist Jeff Beamish, and let me just tell you he is an AMAZING meteorologist and is someone who I aspire to be like one of these days.
     I work from 4 a.m.- 9:20 a.m. and I make graphics, work on the green screen and also post weather blurbs onto Facebook, twitter, and their KVOA webpage.
      The graphics are all done on the TruVu Max system and when I find my journal with how to use the graphics I will post it up to give you some helpful tips on how to use this program. I'm trying to search for tutorials for this system, but I haven't been able to find any good ones, yet.
      The green screen....oh the green screen is more difficult then I thought it would be. Now I know everyone wants to know, "How does it work"? Because trust me I had no idea either. So let's just pretend you were the meteorologist.... there is the green screen behind you and then there are three cameras (1) in front of you, (2) one on the right side, (3) one of the left side. On these screens you can see yourself with all the graphics behind you. The problem: the cameras are like a mirror. Ugh....I know eventually I will get used to it, but I keep pointing in the wrong direction. So here are some helpful tips on how to use the green screen:

1. 80% staring into the audience. (John the news anchor says that I should always refer to the audience as "you," and not "everybody" it helps make people feel special)
2. 20% off to the side where you can look at the two cameras on the side 
3. I can point out numbers on the side like 83 in Benson blah blah blah but come back and stare into the camera
4. VOICE: Okay so if you are a blonde haired girl you cannot have that high pitched voice. Nichole the traffic anchor gave me the low down on this one. She said if a dark haired girl had done the high pitched voice that it would be okay, but as a blonde girl it can make you look, "like a stupid blonde girl who doesn't know what they are talking about." Now I'm not saying if you are blonde you should go out and dye your hair to brunette  but just keep this in mind and watch inflections on certain words. I'm still struggling with this but what Nichole said to do was to start talking to my family like how I should sound on t.v. This will help me/you sound more natural. 

      As my internship continues I plan to describe everything I learn to give you the inside scoop of what life is like as a weather intern.