10 Within 10 Recognition
Derek Van Dam '06
Derek Van Dam, ’06, remembers the moment weather first captivated him.
“I saw the tree fort I built blow down in a thunderstorm,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘How did this happen?’ I’ve wanted to be a TV weatherman since I was 7.”
Now Van Dam alerts South Africa to the weather, as chief meteorologist for eNews Channel Africa in Johannesburg and Cape Town. He helped launch South Africa’s first 24-hour news channel and developed an interactive online weather website.
The experience has prepared him well as he moves on to a new adventure later this summer, as an on-air meteorologist at CNN International in Atlanta – “a lifelong professional aspiration for me,” Van Dam says.
He first visited South Africa several years ago on a church mission trip. He was a meteorologist at WEYI, the NBC station in Flint, at the time.
When he heard that the Cape Town station needed a meteorologist, he knew that fate had stepped in.
“Who gets to do that?” Van Dam asks. “It was a chance to do something radically different.”
He says his training at CMU served him well, offering a unique combination of meteorology and broadcast training, including work at News Central 34 as an on-air meteorologist. While Van Dam talks excitedly about typhoons and tsunamis, he’s just as passionate about his work with the Compassionate Life Foundation, a Christian nonprofit organization that helps vulnerable children in Swaziland.
He’s on the board of directors and often visits Swaziland, offering HIV/AIDS education. A marathon runner, he raises money for the cause when he races. He and his parents also sponsor a child there. “In the rural parts of South Africa, HIV and AIDS are so taboo to talk about,” Van Dam says. “When it is discussed, people are often misinformed, because there’s little education behind it.
“Because I keep going back, I develop relationships, so I’m talking to them as a friend,” he says. “I can speak about how HIV is transmitted and talk about the myths and why it’s OK to get tested.
“This work has opened my eyes to a lot of reality in the world.”
“I saw the tree fort I built blow down in a thunderstorm,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘How did this happen?’ I’ve wanted to be a TV weatherman since I was 7.”
Now Van Dam alerts South Africa to the weather, as chief meteorologist for eNews Channel Africa in Johannesburg and Cape Town. He helped launch South Africa’s first 24-hour news channel and developed an interactive online weather website.
The experience has prepared him well as he moves on to a new adventure later this summer, as an on-air meteorologist at CNN International in Atlanta – “a lifelong professional aspiration for me,” Van Dam says.
He first visited South Africa several years ago on a church mission trip. He was a meteorologist at WEYI, the NBC station in Flint, at the time.
When he heard that the Cape Town station needed a meteorologist, he knew that fate had stepped in.
“Who gets to do that?” Van Dam asks. “It was a chance to do something radically different.”
He says his training at CMU served him well, offering a unique combination of meteorology and broadcast training, including work at News Central 34 as an on-air meteorologist. While Van Dam talks excitedly about typhoons and tsunamis, he’s just as passionate about his work with the Compassionate Life Foundation, a Christian nonprofit organization that helps vulnerable children in Swaziland.
He’s on the board of directors and often visits Swaziland, offering HIV/AIDS education. A marathon runner, he raises money for the cause when he races. He and his parents also sponsor a child there. “In the rural parts of South Africa, HIV and AIDS are so taboo to talk about,” Van Dam says. “When it is discussed, people are often misinformed, because there’s little education behind it.
“Because I keep going back, I develop relationships, so I’m talking to them as a friend,” he says. “I can speak about how HIV is transmitted and talk about the myths and why it’s OK to get tested.
“This work has opened my eyes to a lot of reality in the world.”