Some elementary school students in Burbank may be considering meteorology as their future profession after their recent, inspiring conversation with NBC4’s weather anchor David Biggar.
After speaking with 24 third graders about his life as a meteorologist at the invitation of their teacher, Ms. Sheldon, Biggar received an envelop full of handwritten thank-you notes and drawings from the young students.
“I was absolutely touched after reading the notes,” Biggar said. “Ms. Sheldon reached out, asking for me to visit her class. Her class was working through a weather unit at the time, and she was asking if I could talk to the class about how I make a forecast.”
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The carefully written – and drawn – cards contained the kids’ heartfelt gratitude. Among them, one student said she was inspired by Biggar.
“Thank you for teaching us about the weather,” the third grader wrote. “I just might become a meteorologist myself!”
As one student claimed Biggar convinced him that “weather is awesome,” others are particularly interested in one specific weather pattern: tornadoes. One kid wrote to Biggar that he thought “tornadoes are the coolest” while another drew a cow sheltering in place from a tornado, seemingly saying “thank you” to Biggar for his weather forecast.
Biggar’s visit to the Burbank school was a first in more than two years. The pandemic stopped him from doing one of his favorite tasks. For the weather anchor, there’s a personal meaning behind classroom visits.
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“I was younger, we had a meteorologist from a local TV station visit my class,” the New York native recalled. “I had already been interested in weather since I was very young, but experiences like that helped me decide to be a meteorologist when I grew up -- a decision I made in the second grade!”
Biggar said his favorite part of doing school visits is seeing the young minds inspired by science and weather.
“I am always surprised by how much the kids know every time I visit a class,” Biggar said. “I’d love to do more school visits in the future!”