I am currently finishing my second year in the MSU off-campus program, and have been reading through many of the letters on your Weathercaster page, and I can't believe some people have so much negatively towards the program. If you have a problem with some of the people that have been in the program, take it up with them, not the program. First, let me say that I totally agree with Richard J. Ortner's letter written on 10-20-98, especially in emphasizing the fact that each potential employer needs to evaluate each potential employee on a separate basis as to the potential employee's ability to perform the duties required. To "discriminate" against someone because of their colleges' or univeristy's name is ridiculous!

Let's take my situation as an example; I have a B.S. in Geology because my institution did not offer meteorology (I played basketball there on a full scholarship, yes, a jock meteorologist). However, I have always wanted to be a meteorologist, as weather has been a life long passion for me in every way. I was fortunate enough to land a weathercasting job in my college town (Grand Junction, CO--KREX-TV), and soon realized I would need to get both the AMS (of which I have been a member since 1991) and NWA seals if I wanted to move to the top. Also, as any credible scientist knows, we DO NOT know all there is to know by any stretch of the imagination. Hell, you show me the most intelligent and knowledgeable meteorologist in the world, and I can guarantee he doesn't get every forecast correct. Therefore, until we reach the point of total understanding, we will constantly need to keep learning. For me, and I suspect many others, the MSU off-campus program is the only feasible way to achieve these goals!

I feel I am learning many valuable tools that will help me become a better forecaster and meteorologist (ps, they do have a thermal dynamics course in the program, in fact you can check out their web site to get a detailed description of each course). However, as Mr. Ortner pointed out, you are only going to get out of the program what you put into it. The information is certainly there if you want it bad enough. I would be extremely disappointed if I applied for my seal of approval or for a job, and did not receive an un-biased evaluation simply because I chose to further my knowledge through MSU or any other accredited program, as it is not the program that is the problem, but the individual. Please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors, as this was written at 2:00am, but this is just to important of a topic. Thanks for listening.

Bill Kappel, WAOW-TV
weatherdude@cyberdude.com