01/24/2025
Thank You!
A little over five years ago following the unexpected passing of my friend Amy Seeley, I embarked on a mission to honor her accomplishments, as a weather forecaster, port meteorological officer, advisor to the Great Lakes shipping industry, and educator to the recreational boating community.
During her thirty-year carrier with the National Weather Service, mostly in the Chicago office, she received multiple promotions and awards for her dedication, hard work, and perseverance.
Amy wrote forecasts, did interviews, managed the Chicago NWS web pages and social media posts, the weather service booth at trade shows, and many other functions at the Chicago Office.
For 15 of those years, she served as the NWS Port Meteorological Officer for the Great Lakes. In this role she installed and maintained weather equipment on ships, then trained crews how to submit observations. In 2007 Amy received a prestigious national Cline Award for her aggressive outreach to increase the Voluntary Observing Ship Reports.
She taught boaters safety classes for the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and the United States Powers Squadrons and held elected and appointed offices in both of those organizations. Amy also served as technical editor of the United States Power Squadrons Weather Course. She presented weather seminars to meetings of the Great Lakes Captains Association and the International Shipmasters.
To honor this remarkable woman, I felt it would be appropriate to establish a scholarship at the University she attended and spoke so fondly of. Thus, the Amy Gustafson Seeley Memorial Scholarship Fund, Inc was incorporated in October 2019 to assist students at Northern Illinois University to further their academic studies in the field of Atmospheric Sciences.
Over the last five years I am happy to report that the fund has given Northern Illinois University over $10,000 to award as scholarships while the fund worked to raise the $50,000 needed to endow the scholarship in perpetuity at NIU.
Because of the generosity of friends, family, co-workers, members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary Ninth Western Region, and the many others who loved her and valued her friendship and accomplishments, I am thrilled to report that today a check for $50,000 is being sent to the NIU foundation to endow the Amy Gustafson Memorial Scholarship. With this endowment she and her accomplishments will be remembered for as long as the university exists.
Our mission is not finished, this fund will continue to raise funds to add to the endowment, who knows what the future will bring.
Words cannot express my gratitude to all who have donated to make this happen. It could not be possible without you.
Dr. Michael Wiedel, PhD
President and CEO
Amy Gustafson Seeley Memorial Scholarship Fund, Inc.
6446 N 47th Street
Milwaukee, WI 52333
414 491 5600
[email protected]
a 501c(3) charitable organization
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