March 20, 2011
When a winter storm heads into Tennessee, residents generally stay indoors, grab some cocoa and wait for the weather to pass through. Schools tend to cancel classes, sports teams pack it in and children sit by the fire watching cartoons.
Will Clinard does none of these things, and he never has.
From a young age, the Vanderbilt pitcher has embraced storms and studied their patterns, hoping to learn more about Mother Nature. Will grew up on a tobacco farm in Cross Plains, Tenn., a rural community north of Nashville. His father, Kevin, would keep an eye on the weather coming in from the west to see how it could affect the crop. Wanting to help out, Will took after his father and started to pay attention, as well. Soon, it became an obsession.
“As a 4-year-old, my classmates would go home and watch Barney,” Clinard said. “I would get home from school and watch the Weather Channel in hopes to help out my dad. Our crops were so greatly affected by the weather that I wanted to do whatever I could to contribute.”
Since then, Will has taken it a step further and made it his own passion, realizing it is something he wants to be a part of for the rest of his life. While most kids are unsure of what they want to do in the next few moments, Will is someone who knew exactly what he wanted to do and went after it, breaking down roadblocks on his journey.
The Clinard family has been lifelong fans of Vanderbilt athletics, and it was a childhood dream for Will to don the black and gold as a Commodore. Baseball was his favorite sport growing up, and he started to harness his skills early on. Clinard blossomed in high school and had a sensational career, becoming the fourth-ranked baseball prospect in the state and getting drafted in the 37th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers. After being named to numerous all-star teams, Will decided it would be best to attend Vanderbilt to play baseball and earn a college degree.
When Will got to campus, he was set on majoring in meteorology or something closely related. Vanderbilt does not offer that specific major, but Will worked with his academic counselors in hopes of finding another major that would interest him. He tried classes ranging from economics to philosophy, but nothing was able to take his mind off the weather and meteorology.
“We looked at everything in the student handbook,” said Katie Feyes, Will’s athletic department academic adviser. “But every semester we would sign up for classes and by the end of the semester it never clicked. We knew there needed to be a change, so after two years we realized it was time to create a major.”
That is exactly what they did. Will did not want to settle, so he did everything in his power to get the ball rolling on creating his own major that was tailored to meteorology and the weather. Will and Feyes found out what steps had to be taken, and they went after it without hesitation. The first thing Will had to do was meet with one of the deans to make sure doing this would be in his best interest. Once he got the approval from the dean, he had to write an essay of sorts, describing the major and what he would be taking away from it. Katie was able to help him throughout the process, and they started to create a list of classes he would need to take to fulfill his requirements.
After coming up with a curriculum, Will had to find an on-campus academic advisor who worked in his field of study and could help him with his classes. He met Molly Miller, who worked for the department of earth and environmental sciences, and the two soon realized they had similar interests. Miller agreed to become Will’s academic adviser, and the duo submitted the proposal to the committee of programs. The committee decided it was a legitimate major and approved the request. Clinard will graduate with an interdisciplinary degree in environmental studies.
“I think Vanderbilt is great at working with students and doing what is in their best interest,” Feyes said. “They want to help those students and make sure they get a degree that is useful to them. If you come to an institution such as Vanderbilt, you need to make sure you have the opportunity to study something of interest to you. I’m glad Will was able to get it approved and study something that he has such a passion for.”
Having your own major does not make classes any easier; it actually may take more time to get through. While the average student may take 30 hours of classes in their respective fields, Will has to take 48 hours of specialized classes. He has been able to find enough classes to fit his needs, with subjects such as “Earth and Atmosphere” or “Global Climate Change” sparking his interest.
While the common man might immediately think that a person with a meteorology degree would become a weatherman, Will says he wants to stay behind the cameras looking at maps and computers. He breaks down the storm and wants to be able to help people who are in danger of natural disasters. His biggest dream of all, though: storm chasing.
“That comes from my wild side,” Will said. “Growing up, whenever a storm approached I would sit outside in it until my parents had to drag me in. I like reading maps and all, but there is nothing like being outside in the midst of it, experiencing the elements. It’s a mixture of wanting to see the weather patterns and feeling the rush of the storm.”
Even though Will has such a passion for meteorology and the weather, baseball is still his main focus. The redshirt sophomore is coming off a successful freshman campaign where he went 4-0 with a 2.68 ERA in 21 appearances. He dreams of playing in the big leagues someday, and, like everything else in his life, he has a focus and determination about it unlike anyone else.
“I think it is rare to find someone who knows what they want to do at such a young age,” Feyes said. “A lot of people in Will’s situation would have given up and not pursued their dreams, but Will never wants to settle. He puts his mind to something and will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.” n