HVRHS graduate charts an unlikely path

SHARON — “When I was young, my parents and I would sit outside on our front porch whenever there was a thunderstorm,” said Allison Black, 18. “They didn’t want me to be afraid of thunder.” 

Although they could not have anticipated it at the time, this planted the seed for her love of meteorology.

A member of Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s Class of 2020, Black is pursuing her passion for gnarly weather at Ohio University next year. She is the recipient of a scholarship from the Sharon Land Trust, given to a student studying natural sciences. 

“I’m dying to see a tornado,” said Black, who has been fascinated with them since seeing one on television at age 11. “The next day I went to my science teacher, who said I should be a meteorologist.” 

While Athens, Ohio, may not seem like a hotbed of tornado activity, Black was impressed with their meteorology department and connection to Oklahoma. 

“I chose Ohio partly because in the spring they take a group of students to Oklahoma to go chase tornadoes, and that’s my dream.” 

She deemed the Sooner State too far for her undergraduate study, but plans on attending the University of Oklahoma for graduate school. 

Black hopes eventually to work for the National Weather Service, but acknowledged that realizing that aspiration is partly out of her control. 

“They go on hiring sprees when they get their meteorologists,” she said. Those are followed by 10-to-15 year stretches when the Weather Service “hardly hires anyone.” 

There are some jobs in the field she has already ruled out. 

“I was surprised to find that very few meteorologists are broadcast meteorologists,” she said, before adding,“I don’t want to be on TV.”

Black sees meteorology as an ever-relevant profession. 

“The weather affects everyone, and it’s always changing.”

Editor’s note: This article was written before the tornado hit the Northwest Corner on Sunday, Aug. 2.