Forecasting Her Future
» Go to news mainJoyce Wong’s WIL Co‑op Journey
Growing up in Hong Kong, Joyce Wong considered typhoons a part of everyday life. When storms came in, her family would check the TV to see if school was cancelled, and neighbours would tape their windows.
“I remember walking through the sheltered corridor from my apartment to the convenience store to get ice cream while leaves swirled wildly outside. It was all completely normal to me.”
After moving to Halifax as a teenager, Joyce became fascinated by the varied maritime weather conditions. “Halifax's weather can change so dramatically between morning and night that I started checking the radar and forecasts just for fun,” she says.
In summer 2023, the HammondsPlains/Upper Tantallon wildfire
Photo provided
broke out the day of Joyce’s high school prom, causing significant damage to the area. That same summer, she worked as an assistant lifeguard at a local outdoor pool, where she spent countless hours in the hot sun.
"That was when weather stopped being just intellectually interesting to me and started feeling like something that truly affects people's lives.”
Discovering a Career Path
Joyce first learned that meteorology could be a profession when she met a student studying it during her first year at 17Թ. However, she didn’t consider it a potential career path until she came across the job posting for her current work term.
“Everything clicked: the curiosity I'd carried since Hong Kong had been pointing somewhere all along.”
“There was a way to put my math and programming background to work on something I'd cared about for years, and I wanted to figure out what's behind the large datasets and patterns that shape our weather and beyond.”
Work with the Meteorological Service of Canada
Joyce is working as a Health and Air Quality Data Analysis and Climatology Assistant with the Health and Air Quality Forecasting Service team at the Meteorological Service of Canada. Her primary duties relate to the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), Canada's public scale for communicating how air quality may affect one's health on a given day.
"Because air quality is shaped by the weather, our team is responsible for how the AQHI is forecast by the same meteorologists forecasting the weather,” she says. “Day to day, that means working with the air quality data, drawing insights from it, and building tools that make it easier to monitor.”
One of her main projects involves enhancing the team’s AQHI indicator dashboard, which tracks how well their air quality forecasts perform against a service standard over time. Joyce also sends wildfire and smoke briefings twice a week and has taken on a range of smaller tasks, including redesigning the wildfire dashboard’s bilingual glossary.
She finds the work extremely fulfilling and is excited to see what she can contribute by the end of her work term. “I'm about to start working on a heat dashboard to bring heat-related information together in one place so it's easier to follow at a glance,” she says. “It's early days, but I think it could be a genuinely useful tool.”
Joyce is grateful to her manager and supervisor for providing her with the opportunity, and to her coworkers for welcoming her into the team. Their career paths have shown her the depth of possibilities within the field. “Going to work alongside people who have built careers in the field I'm working toward has been a real privilege.”
“Their willingness to teach me and to share their stories means a lot.”
ECCC Meteorology Award
Shortly after accepting her job offer, Joyce discovered the ECCC Meteorology Award, a national scholarship for BSc students. The deadline was the next day.
“I confirmed my eligibility, wrote the essay, and reached out to my professor and teacher asking if they'd be willing to submit reference forms on very short notice,” she says. “They were incredibly kind and came through without hesitation.”
Earlier this month, Joyce learned she was selected as one of six recipients. “The award is valued at $5,000, which covers a full semester of my tuition,” she says. “Being recognized nationally for my commitment to this field, especially as someone who didn't find their way to meteorology until third year, means more than I can fully put into words.”
“I’m deeply grateful to my professor and teacher. Without their generosity and trust in me, none of it would have been possible.”
What’s next for Joyce?
Joyce is keeping her options open for her final work term. During her final year, she plans to apply to master's programs and the federal government's Meteorologist Operational Internship Program. “I'm looking forward to exploring meteorology further, learning as I go, and applying what I know to contribute to something meaningful.”
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