-: I wouldn't be where I'm at without Ball State University.
And I say that on two fronts,
you know I was a major in meteorology
so obviously the majority of my classes
were science classes.
But I've spoke about the exceptional
television communications department
that they have here, I was a minor in t-comm.
And all of those classes were fantastic
and they got me prepared, especially
on the meteorology front.
Some of the great experiences that I had
we actually had a class where I got
credit for stormchasing in the planes for a month.
We chased tornadoes,
and being able to see what you have learned in the class
and watch it visually form and our professor say,
"see this is why this, this, and this is happening
because of this that we talked about."
and you know you can read it all in textbooks
but to kind of put in perspective.
In a wide open space out there.
With the TV side,
the ability really at any point
to be able to walk into their beautiful television studio
that's over there and get reps.
Get in front of the green screen,
practice, practice, practice.
That paid dividends.
With weather equipment that is equal
if not better than many TV stations around the country
you are already a step ahead of many
of the students around any other colleges in this country
that don't have that luxury.
And I was very blessed to be able to have that
back in 2000, it's even better,
I'm jealous of all the people that are there now
because it is a beautiful setup
but that is what we're, Ball State has set
that meteorology program, that communications program up.
That these kids are ready to go, day one,
when they get out of school.
That's the way I felt, I didn't need much training
when I got to my first job in Lima, Ohio.
I think I was there for a day and then
I was off to the races after that
and I think Ball State had a lot to do with that
because of the experience I already had going forward, so.