The Student Volunteer Intern Program
at the NWS Mount Holly Forecast Office

• Are you a college student from the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley area, in your Junior year of a major in Meteorology or a related field?
  
  
• Are you interested in learning first-hand about operational forecasting in the National Weather Service?

If so, then the student volunteer intern program at
NWS Mount Holly may be right for you.

Each summer we bring in several student volunteers to work part time at our office. They typically work two days or evenings a week, for a total of about 16 hours. The times are flexible; we try to work out a schedule that is convenient for all the volunteers. Students start in mid May and continue through mid August. We prefer that students work on weekdays, but weekends are also possible.

As a student volunteer, you will have the opportunity to work at an NWS field office and see how the forecasts are prepared. You can learn about AWIPS, NOAA Weather Radio, and various other NWS computer systems. We will set up training shifts at specific forecast desks, including public, aviation/marine, hydrology, and severe weather. As opportunities arise, you may be able to visit remote equipment sites, go on storm surveys, or attend meetings with our customers.

Basically, you will perform most of the duties of a entry-level meteorologist in the NWS. Also, we try to find a longer-term project, such as a weather-event case study or local climate study, that you can complete during the summer, and that will have lasting benefit for our office.

Some students receive academic credit for their work here, but many do not. That is up to the individual. Most students work during the Summer, but Fall or Spring internships are also possible, and there is less competition then.

We interview prospective student interns from December through March, and make selections in April. We hope for a diverse pool of applicants from which to choose, i.e., different schools, different ethnic backgrounds, male/female, etc. Again, we look for students who by the coming Summer will have completed their Junior year of a major in meteorology, atmospheric science, or a related field. Computer programming skills are also definitely a plus.

If you're interested in our student volunteer intern program, please contact us at (alan.cope@noaa.gov) for more information, or to set up a time for an interview.