CCM ESSAY

By: Justin Van Es

4/19/04

Twice a year in December and late spring, many people will receive a paper that says you have graduate from a certain college. This is a key moment in a person’s life. Does he or she take the plunge and work for company and leave the opportunity of solidifying their knowledge behind them, or do they find away to gain more knowledge? For me, I want to learn more in the field of meteorology, and the best way to achieve this goal is receiving a CCM. In this essay I will tell you my motivation for applying for the CCM, the importance of the CCM, and what my professional aspirations are.

My motivation for applying for the CCM is to learn more. All my life I have had this craving to learn new material. Heck I spend $58 for cable, and all I ever watch is the History Channel. But seriously. After I Graduated from college, my learning didn’t stop there. My first few jobs were a learning process. Whether it producing the morning weather report at KGO radio in San Francisco to producing the weather at NBC for San Diego. All those years I was learning how set up the computers and how to deliver my forecast better. Now I have hit a point in my life where I am not learning new material. This weather broadcasting has become routine. So routine that one summer I sat in front of the camera, and told the public the forecasted high in San Diego will be 70º F for 30 days straight! This is where importance of the certification comes into play.

In my mind when a person has knowledge in any field. Has a responsibility to keep their knowledge fresh, and always be open to new techniques. By obtaining a CCM a meteorologist will be forced to learn new and refresh their techniques. For example if someone asked me to find out how much rain Medford Oregon receives. Not only will I need to refresh myself on how should I obtain this information. I must know a thing or two about southern Oregon’s climate. Does the city go by annual rainfall or a seasonal rainfall? With so many endless possibilities of consulting, you see that a person will begin to learn new techniques and keep their knowledge fresh.

Expanding my knowledge and learning new ideas are great, but what are my personal aspirations? I feel I can give more to the public than I already do. Right now I provide a service to the public, and get a great joy when someone thanks me for forecasting rain on any given day. I can just imagine helping someone building his or her dream house by figuring out the 100 year 1 day storm event, or even helping out on a class action lawsuit. The possibilities are endless and I see myself wanting to be apart of that experience.

Weather affects everyone’s lives, and a lot people don’t know how much the weather plays in their lives. I am easily motivated when some asks me something about meteorology, having a CCM will keep me striving to do my best. Helping people is my personal aspiration, and if a person ever needs a meteorologist then I want to be that meteorologist who can help them.

Thank you

Justin Van Es