Storm Team at Ocracoke School

Ellis, who is a meteorologist for WNCT Storm Team 9 in Greenville, recently visited the island and presented a program for the kids enrolled in the summer S.T.E.M. camp directed by Jennifer Garrish. About fifty kids in rising Kindergarten through 5th grades attend the school’s summer program. They assembled last week to learn about how Storm Team 9 watches and reports on the weather.

Ellis taught the kids about the different tools that meteorologists use, how they follow the radar, how to read the sky (what do those different kinds of clouds mean?), and what to do in the event of severe weather. And, no surprise, the kids and Ellis shared stories about Hurricane Arthur, still fresh in everyone's minds.

This was Ellis’s first visit to Ocracoke, and he was amazed at the ferry crossing time from Swan Quarter. (“Why don’t they build a bridge?” he asked the kids and teachers.) But despite the long ride to the island, Ellis was excited to be there. And the kids were excited to meet him and get his autograph, though no one was more thrilled than Crystal Canterbury, the teacher who emailed Ellis and invited him.

Crystal and her fellow S.T.E.M. teacher Allison Moote got to spend the afternoon with Ellis, taking him to lunch and to see the sights on Ocracoke before he got back aboard the ferry. The kids and teachers also presented him with a thank-you package that included donated gifts of a hat and mug from Ocracoke Coffee Company, a beach towel and lighthouse figurine from the Variety Store, and an Ocracoke Dolphins t-shirt from the Booster Club.

Ellis acknowledged Ocracoke’s hospitality with a shout-out on the news broadcast on Sunday evening. Video here.

Other teachers in the S.T.E.M. (Science. Technology. Engineering. Math.) camp are Heather O’Neal, Mary Ellen Piland, Casey Robertson, Adam Burleson, and Jennifer Daniels. The free program meets Monday – Thursday mornings for six weeks over the summer.