1. Ashley Asbell
AP Literature
Ms. Tillery
19 April 2012
Senior Project Speech
Now I am sure you have all seen pictures just like these on the news before and if
you are like me, you cannot believe that something as simple as some wind and rain
could create this much damage. In fact, damage such as this, produced from Hurricanes
similar to Katrina and Andrew, costs an average of over a billion dollars every year, and
that is just in the United States. Hurricanes are also experienced by other countries
around the world, and while they may have different names, they all cause immense
damage and occasional loss.
I am Ashley Asbell and for my Senior Project I created a video on Hurricanes. As
an aspiring Meteorologist, choosing a topic based on a weather phenomenon was an
effortless choice to make. After hearing about how one of my close family friends had
been through Hurricane Andrew, I decided to create a video about their experience.
To begin, I sat down with my project facilitator and we worked what all would be
involved in the video. We decided on going in the direction of an interview with some
pictures tied in. The focus of the video would be to tell Betty and Rolando Nunez’s story
and inform people on what to do if they find themselves in a similar situation. After
figuring out the questions I was going to ask, I set up a time and date and filmed the
Nunezs. When I got to their house I was pleasantly surprised when I was presented with a
stack of newspapers from before, during, and after Andrew hit in 1992 that Rolando had

2. collected and saved. Once I had the footage I uploaded my footage into iMovie and
edited it. This involved separating the audio from some of the clips, adding in outside
pictures, trimming clips, and putting music to the video. Once I had my finished movie, I
then created another small video with clips from the final product as a sample for you to
see.
To create both my final product and the sample that you just saw I had some help
from my Project Facilitator, Mrs. Ashley Estapa. Mrs. Estapa is the Broadcast and Video
Production teacher here at Creekview and she not only helped me with the production
side of my project, but also the research side. While working on this project, I found out
that she comes from a family of Hurricane “junkies” and that on the day Katrina hit, her
family was actually moving into their new home in Biloxi. I was able to obtain some
helpful information from her that helped guide me ultimately to the final product that I
created.
While I learned a lot from this project, it did not come without some problems.
One of my biggest problems had to do with software. Upon uploading the interview
footage into iMovie, I came across an error in that I could not see the video footage, I
could only hear it. To make matters worse I came to the realization that the Mac
computer I have only supports video formats prior to true HD quality. After spending
countless hours updating the software, I finally had all of the software, with the right
features, that I needed. Another problem that I faced was a miscommunication with my
project facilitator. With her ties to so much information on hurricanes, we had worked out
that one weekend while she was in Biloxi she was going to get some of the videos and
pictures her family had from the many hurricanes they had faced. I was planning to use a

3. decent amount of that footage, but instead had to change the focus of the video when she
was not able to bring back anything. Looking back, this actually ended up working out
for the better because I was able to narrow the focus of my video and once I had the right
software, creating it did not take too long.
For my paper, I researched everything I could about Hurricanes. How they form,
how they are named, what to do if you are caught in one, and so much more. The
information that I found really helped me understand the sheer power and impact that was
made once I interviewed the Nunez family. The most interesting thing I learned from my
research was how they are named. They started out as just numbers or only female names
but, as with most things, the media changed it to the system we use now. This system
consists of a rotation of six generated alphabetical lists. This makes it easier to report on
in the case that we are faced with a very active year.
Because of the senior project, I am now certain of that I want to pursue my goal of
studying Hurricanes and other strong storms by obtaining a Meteorology degree from the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte this upcoming fall. The process took a lot of
time and effort but I feel that it was well worth it. While I have known about what I want
for my future for some time now, I think for anyone that is not sure, this project is very
beneficial. I am sure you have all heard the saying, “if plan A does not work, there are 25
other letters in the alphabet”. Well from this project, I learned exactly that. Always have a
backup plan because most of the time it will not go as you have planned.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to listen to my presentation. I hope that
you have learned something about hurricanes today so that if you ever find yourself in a
similar situation to the Nunez family you will know what to do.