Hope Osemwenkhae 鈥18
For Hope Osemwenkhae 鈥18, the forecast is mostly sunny with winds that look primed to carry her all the way to her dream job. The former聽Earth and Environmental Sciences聽major, and聽Television and Radio聽minor, landed a position last summer as a meteorologist for News 12 The Bronx.
After interning with Emmy Award鈥搘inning WNBC meteorologist Raphael Miranda 鈥06鈥攁 connection facilitated by the college鈥檚聽Magner Career Center鈥擮semwenkhae leveraged her relationships there to land her current position.
鈥淭his is such a big opportunity to start my career in the top market,鈥 says Osemwenkhae, who thought she鈥檇 have to move to a much smaller market to get her foot in the door. 鈥淚鈥檓 in more than 700,000 households. To start in my hometown at such a young age is huge.鈥
Osemwenkhae learned the ins and outs of weather forecasting during her internship, so when she was put to the test during her interview with News 12, she nailed it. She explains, 鈥淭hat day, we had some easterly winds and they wanted to know what that means. The sea breeze is cooler around the coast than in urban areas because of that wind, which has a significant impact on how it鈥檚 going to feel outside. The interviewer asked, 鈥榃hy is it cooler along the coast?鈥 I responded, 鈥楾he easterly winds are due to a sea breeze making it cooler along the coast compared to inland.鈥 鈥
Osemwenkhae鈥攚ho decided she wanted to be a weather forecaster after watching the movie聽The Day After Tomorrow聽when she was eight years old, and growing up watching Sam Champion and Lee Goldberg on WABC7鈥攊s currently enrolled in a 12-credit online certificate program in weather forecasting at Pennsylvania State University. She plans to complete it by December 2020.
She says she鈥檚 happy for the opportunity to be at News 12, which has outlets all over the tristate area, because she can fill in as needed in other markets like Long Island and Connecticut. 鈥淭hat means more flexibility and more eyes I can be seen by.鈥