By Ryan Ding, Staff Reporter
The time was 4:00 a.m.; standing outside the train station, in a turbulent cloud of white snow, then eighth-grader and current sophomore Calvin Kan prepared to record his daily weather report. After hours of filming and editing footage, Kan headed to school, where his video aired as part of the VFMS morning announcements.
This scene was a regular morning in Kan’s life at VFMS. Inspired by a large snowstorm in 2016, Kan began learning more about weather phenomena and soon developed a love for sharing forecasts with others. When Kan first started out at VFMS’s TV Studio, he signed up to forecast the weather, and decided to put his own spin on the job with a video. Kan’s reporting received much support from the community, and soon his reports became a mainstay of the announcements.
“I remember being very surprised that he was interested in it, because I’ve been teaching kids that age for a while, and I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone else that liked doing this sort of thing,” said Amy Schroeder, the technology teacher and director of TV Studio at VFMS. “I just thought it was very impressive that he was willing to put himself through really cold mornings of standing outside in the dark, and all just because he wanted to do it.”
Kan’s passion for forecasting meant he sought ways to improve. At 12 years old, he won a scholarship to attend a week-long overnight weather camp for high school students at Penn State. In the summer of 2023, Kan further honed his skills in Boston, where he attended a two-week long film camp exposing him to professional broadcasting equipment and training.
“The amazing thing (about) him is that anywhere he went, he was always interested in the weather,” Tracy Sun, Kan’s mother said. “He will watch other weather reports and do a lot of analysis and forecasting, and he is frustrated when the weather is not accurate.”
While Kan has since graduated from VFMS, he continues to pursue his love of reporting through Good Morning Stoga, the daily morning announcements for Conestoga, and his social media accounts on Snapchat and YouTube, where he posts weather forecasts, personal films and news reports. Kan is also developing his own media team, which will help him expand his reporting capabilities.
“It has given me more confidence to talk to people and do more extracurriculars. I’ve grown more confident with myself, and it’s also helped with my presentation skills and public speaking,” Kan said. “I love reporting and being able to talk about certain events. I feel like these memories make a really enjoyable experience.”
Ryan Ding can be reached at [email protected].
