“The sky is the limit!”  That is what I tell students when they are trying their best;  whether that be in perfecting a sport, learning a new talent, tackling that “hard” math problem, or working to become a better reader.  I believe it is vital that every child knows that the harder they try, and the more they challenge themselves, the more they will improve.

Reading is a critical skill that is at the root of success and there is a program, right here in Grand Rapids, that is dedicated to helping GRPS students be the best readers they can be.  Schools of Hope, is a program run through a partnership between West Michigan’s Untied Way and Grand Rapids Public Schools, to help elementary students in first through third grades improve their reading skills.  This is done through the help of the community with tutors that volunteer 30 minutes of their time, once a week, to read with a student.  Tutors consist of high school students to seniors, and professionals to retires.  You do not have to be a teacher, or a college graduate to volunteer, all you are required to do is complete a 2-hour training session prior to starting.  This session will give you all the tools, ideas, and techniques, that will help the student you tutor be successful.

Since it began in 2001, Schools of Hope has helped thousands of children become better, more proficient readers.  Some will even go onto exceed grade level standards.  Last year there were roughly 1,200 tutors and this year they are hoping to increase that number to 1,500.

It is amazing what happens when the community pitches in and everyone donates a little…the results become tremendous.  I am second-year tutor through this program and every week I truly look forward to it.  One of the best rewards is seeing the improvement from the fall, when the school year starts, to June.  Words that used to be difficult are now read with ease, sentences that lacked meaning are now quickly understood (with improved comprehension), and pages that used to be read in a choppy fashion are fluent.  Not to mention, confidence is improved.

Now, (you know I’ll bring weather into this) we get a lot of snow here in Michigan (100+ inches in each of the last two years), and it gets really cold.  That being said, many of us may be able to find and extra 30 minutes in (what I know are already) our very busy schedules to help make a huge difference, especially during the winter season.  Sessions are held during the school day so depending on your work schedule you may be able to tutor on your lunch break, before or after work, or on your day off.  And here is another thing…it doesn’t cost you a penny (and I know free is not a word we hear very often)!  So what do you say…ready to read?

Drove to Virginia Beach to witness the developing Nor'easter...it was 47 and raining!

If you follow me on Twitter, or are friends of mine on Facebook, you may recall some of my tweets/posts several weeks ago mentioning things like dual-pol radar, precipitable water values, and hurricane forecast improvements.  Well, these were just a few of the many topics discussed at the 34th Annual National Weather Association Annual meeting, held in Norfolk, Virginia, which I was able to attend.

My friends commonly refer to this as “weather geek week”, however, if you love the weather (and I do), it is perfect!  Plus, in the weather world, this is one of the big events!  Researchers and professors from major meteorology schools throughout the nation were in attendance, as was Greg Carbin, the Director of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK,  Bill Read from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, and Dr. Louis Uccellini from NCEP, to name a few.  The title of this years meeting was “The Future is Now: New Technologies and Techniques to Support the Weather Enterprise and Society: 2010 and Beyond”.  It sounds like a mouthful, but there was great data and ideas shared about the growth and accomplishments of technology in many aspects of the field.

Of the many topics, Dual Polarization radar is one of the hot ones.  It is basically an upgrade to the radars we have now at Weather Service Offices across the country (technically known as WSR-88D or Weather Surveillance Radar – 1988 Doppler).  Advances with this include; improved detection of hail in thunderstorms, rainfall rate estimations during flood or flash flooding events, better discrimination between rain and snow, and also elimination or reduction of ground clutter (buildings, birds, dust, etc.).

These improvement are possible because rather than just sending out a horizontal pulse, or beam, the radar will have the capability to send out a combination of horizontal and vertical pulses.  This has been tested and studied extensively in our Nation’s Heartland and is scheduled to be expanded country-wide within the next few years.  On the current plan, all radars, including the one in Grand Rapids, will have the dual-pol upgrade by the end of 2012!

It is amazing how far we have come and the advances that continue to be made. It truly was an eye-opening 4 days packed full of weather!

Girl Scouts and Cast of the First Annual Event

Happy November Everyone!  In this age of blogging, I thought it was time to try my hand at it.  My main goal will be to share important events, interesting weather information, and other tidbits that come along, which you may enjoy.  Now, the only question is where to start?

I know!  Last Thursday evening, an exciting event took place at the Wealthy Theatre, on behalf of the Girl Scouts, called “That’s Entertainment!”!  It was the first time an event such as this has taken place in West Michigan, but from the result, it certainly won’t be the last.  Through this combined network event, thousands of dollars were raised for the Girl Scouts of Michigan Shore to Shore, and, as a bonus, local media personalities got to show off their talents!

The evening was a jam-packed full of dancing, singing, laughing and tons of fun.  Brian Sterling, Dee Morrison, and I, along with others, took part in an opening dance, choreographed to “All that Jazz”, from the musical Chicago…complete with a top-hat!  After a stunning finale, the individual acts took off.  They included juggling, lip syncing, and even a rap number!  Brian Sterling had the entire theatre smiling from ear to ear with his comics.  To make it even better, Terri DeBoer gave him a glowing introduction and then showed off with a little baton twirling (she is really good).  While manning the flip cam, I prepared for my turn on stage.  Hula Dancing, how about that for a talent?  Surprised?  Yeah, so was I.  As a last minute fill-in, I learned the short dance in about 30 minutes.  Not perfect, but tons of fun, and definitely a great leg workout!

The night finished with the song “This One’s for the Girls”, an amazingly fitting way to end a fabulous night.

Big thanks go out to all who made it possible; everything from booking the theatre, arranging the food, tickets, talent, choreographers….Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.  It is so true that hard work does pay off.  Now I’m thinking, “Can’t wait till next year.”  Better yet, I think I already have my talent picked…but I’m not telling:-)