ABC11’s ‘Big Weather’ gets college degree after 30-year hiatus, graduates with son
Long ago in Iowa, Don Schwenneker left college early and took his first job in TV news, where he stumbled into once-a-week weather forecasts despite knowing zero about meteorology.
That lucky accident led to his first full-time forecasting job in New Mexico, where he learned weather science by taking a correspondence course, watching VHS tapes sent in the mail. Sealed and certified, he moved on to Pittsburgh and Chicago.
Three decades later, Schwenneker earned his way to chief meteorologist at ABC11 in Raleigh, where he is often voted the Triangle’s favorite TV personality — a literal huge success who stands 6-foot-5 with the nickname “Big Weather.”
And college?
“Life got in the way,” he said, “and I never went back.”
Dad grad
But this Saturday, Schwenneker will collect the bachelor’s degree he placed on a three-decade hiatus, marching across the stage at UNC-Pembroke alongside his son, Mason.
The meteorologist asked Mason if he should delay wrapping up until the winter — not wanting to steal his son’s thunder. But the pair will walk as father and son — graduates together.
“He’s such a sweet kid,” said Schwenneker. “Hopefully, the cap and gown fits. I’m a giant. I did say to my wife, ‘Let’s bring some hairpins.’ “
Before TV had meteorologists
Schwenneker’s career speaks to an era before before Doppler radar, storm chasers or local on the 8s, when TV stations had weather “personalities,” sometimes even puppets, which was the case for Albert the Alleycat in Milwaukee and Willie the Duck in Pittsburgh.
In those simpler times, it was possible to get jobs without a college degree specifically tailored to that purpose. In the early 1990s, when Schwennker started out in TV, English majors short of the required credits for a graduation got hired at Internet service providers.
Given the choice between academics and a job, Schwenneker followed his mentor’s advice:
“My professor said, ‘No one’s hiring.’ You need to take this job.”
And though he started out behind the camera in Des Moines, shooting sports, he made himself available for anything.
“If they said, ‘We may need you to sweep the floor at 2 a.m.,’ I’d say, ‘I’ll be there at 1:45,’” Schwenneker recalled. “If a person is going to give you their hard-earned money, you need to earn it.”
He had certification from the National Weather Service as part of his correspondence course, and as he progressed in his work, college got further in the rear-view mirror. Married with three children, he didn’t really have time to finish, a regret in the back of his mind but never a deal-breaker, career-wise.
Big Weather goes back to school
Then his daughter Madison, a graduate at UNC-P who is now working for AmeriCorps on campus, pointed out a program for adults exactly like Schwenneker. He could take all his classes online and finish in a little more than a year.
The only question was his major. UNC-Pembroke offered no meteorology degree. But Schwenneker had worked as both a police dispatcher and volunteer firefighter while a forecaster in Altoona, Pa. So he chose criminal justice.
Going back to school, even through online classes, required missing weekend fun, neglecting the cricket team he follows and learning how to navigate Canvas at age 52.
But he carved out a TV career through pluck, natural stage talent and hard work, so even final exams proved a clearable obstacle. On weekends, with leisure time beckoning, his family would nudge him into homework.
“Not in a nagging way,” he said. “In an encouraging way. One of my research papers that I wrote was 15 pages.”
Schwenneker didn’t tell anybody about his moonlighting as a college student until the very end, when he knew he would make it.
He did make the honor society along the way, which required taking a day off, but otherwise he managed classes on top of guiding the Triangle through rain and snow. Earlier this week, his colleagues at ABC11 gave him cake.
This will suffice for pre-graduation parties for the 52-year-old dad. He won’t be up late the night before.
“I may stay up the night after,” he joked.