1. 405 Long Branch Way
Canton, GA 30115
April 19, 2012
Judges, Senior Project
Creekview High School
1550 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA 30115
Dear Judges:
My name is Ashley Asbell and I am a 17 year old born and raised in Georgia. Ever since I was little,
I have always been fascinated by weather and I have even been personally affected by a few
weather related disasters. This fascination has helped me in the decision to attend the University of
North Carolina at Charlotte this upcoming fall and work towards a degree in Meteorology. My
interest in weather also helped me decide on what to do for my Senior Project. With this, I decided
to focus on what I ultimately hope to study in the field, major storms, or in this scenario, hurricanes.
For my product, I created a video about one of my family’s close friends, the Nunez’s, and their
experience with Hurricane Andrew. The video tied in really well with my research paper on
hurricanes. I learned everything that I could about them: how they form, how they are named, how
to prepare for them, what to do after one has it and much more. Many of the obstacles I had to face
dealt with the software I used. The first one I encountered was that iMovie would not show my
video clips. I then switched to Movie Maker and realized that it does not have the ability to extract
the audio from the video. After all of this, I was finally able to find a software that worked and
finished my video.
The topic of my research was of course hurricanes, and as I mentioned earlier I have a deep
fascination for weather and plan on studying at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. My
goal is to receive a bachelor of science in Meteorology and one-day work with a company such as
the National Weather Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Unlike
many Meteorology majors, I do not plan to be a weathergirl but rather someone that is behind the
scenes, more of a researcher. It is a dream of mine to be out in the field with the actual weather
phenomenon. Through this project, I realized that I in fact love studying these forces of nature and I
want to learn more.
While the Senior Project did not affect me much in the way of my future career, I do think that it is
a good idea for some students. I have known for years now what I wanted to do and this project
only strengthened that notion. Finally, I want to thank you for coming out today, I hope you can
learn something new about hurricanes and see why they are such incredible forces of nature.
Sincerely,
Ashley Asbell