{"id":7428,"date":"2024-07-03T15:12:26","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T19:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7428"},"modified":"2024-07-03T15:12:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T19:12:28","slug":"mrs-mccue-has-a-clue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7428","title":{"rendered":"Mrs. McCue has a clue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1st Place, Personality Profile<br><\/strong>2023-24, Division 2, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Mara Grima<br><\/strong>The Tower Pulse<br>Grosse Pointe South HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If TV weathermen everywhere aren\u2019t jealous, they should be. A local outdoor enthusiast with a keen interest in natural phenomena has stolen their thunder. Introducing South\u2019s weather prophetess, English teacher Sandra McCue has built a reputation around her meteorological abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McCue\u2019s foresight took South by storm when she predicted a series of cold and ice days that interrupted midterms. However, with her zeal for birdwatching and science, McCue is anything but psychic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m just a curious person,\u201d McCue said. \u201cI\u2019ve always enjoyed researching all kinds of things, and if I learn about something, I tend to want to know everything there is to know about it. I think weather is a little bit like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Skywarn is a nationwide network of trained weather spotters who report storms. Members are required to complete a course through the National Weather Service (NWS). McCue earned her certification two summers ago, and she\u2019s been putting her credentials to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c(McCue) is the English department\u2019s official prognosticator,\u201d English teacher Kevin Cox said. \u201cWhen weather gets kind of rough, either via email or our department\u2019s official group text, we will often ask, \u2018What do you think? Are we going to have a snow day?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The English department relies on McCue\u2019s predictions to plan around every weather-related teaching obstacle from class cancellations to freeway traffic, according to Cox. If McCue says it\u2019s going to be rainy, the teachers know to leave earlier for work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe\u2019s actually better than a lot of forecasters you see on TV, because sometimes they\u2019ll hype and promote things even if it ends up not being very severe,\u201d Cox said. \u201cMcCue is very down to earth and very matter of fact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bella Leonard \u201924, McCue\u2019s former student, said McCue was more accurate than most weather apps, including the popular online snow day calculator. She described McCue\u2019s ability as almost uncanny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe would all get really excited if she thought that we were going to have a snow day because she was the best at predicting it,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cIf McCue said that we were going to get one, then we did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Forecasting is actually a methodical process. McCue said she operates on more than just intuition. In order to make her predictions, she said she analyzes meteorological data provided by the NWS, forecast models and the behavior of local birds, who she explained eat more than usual before a big storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI look at (many signs) enough where I can kind of tell if something\u2019s going to end up being an actual storm or if it\u2019s more (a situation) like, \u2018Oh, they\u2019re hyping it up, but it\u2019s not really going to be enough,\u2019\u201d McCue said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At home, McCue said she uses the solar-powered weather station built into her roof to measure wind speed and temperature. The machine broadcasts data to her smartphone, allowing her to actively monitor conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are so many elements to (the weather),\u201d McCue said. \u201cJust one degree of temperature can make all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McCue said that while there\u2019s no guarantee, February is traditionally a snow-heavy month, so the future holds the potential for more cancellations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe only thing is that once we\u2019ve had a few snow days, the powers that be are less and less likely to want to call another one,\u201d McCue said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the meantime, she will continue to be on the lookout. Staff and students anxiously follow her predictions in anticipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s been raining a lot these past few days,\u201d Cox said. \u201cGuess we\u2019ll have to ask Mrs. McCue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NW-15. Personality Profile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The personality profile captures the life, interests, accomplishments of well-known or interesting people, based on interviews from multiple sources. The subject(s) should have experiences, thoughts and accomplishments worth reporting. Anecdotes add to the personality profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Judging Criteria<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity; reason for sketch is made clear early in story<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Emphasizes fresh angle; individualizes person<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Colorful, lively presentation; effective form\/style<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Descriptive writing demonstrates the concept of \u201cshow, don\u2019t tell\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reflects adequate research, sound interviewing techniques from a variety of sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Avoids encyclopedic listing of subject\u2019s accomplishments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Effective use of quotes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Interesting; appeals to the emotions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Proper diction\/grammar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1st Place, Personality Profile2023-24, Division 2, News Writing By Mara GrimaThe Tower PulseGrosse Pointe South HS If TV weathermen everywhere aren\u2019t jealous, they should be. A local outdoor enthusiast with a keen interest in natural phenomena has stolen their thunder. Introducing South\u2019s weather prophetess, English teacher Sandra McCue has built a reputation around her meteorological [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,63],"tags":[207,21],"class_list":["post-7428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-personalityprofile-nw","tag-2023-24","tag-division2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"PJ Pfeiffer","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=15"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1VO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}