Weather dog visits FPS
Farragut Primary School students had an opportunity to meet Schmitty the Weather Dog and learn about the weather during a visit from Schmitty and her owners, Elly McGuire and Ron Trotta.
Elly McGuire, author of the children’s book, “Schmitty the Wea-ther Dog: Daydream,” and her fiancé, Ron Trotta, New York meteorologist, read to the children and presented a weather program and sing-along to inspire students’ interest in science.
“When you have a passion, and you use your brain, you can do anything you want,” McGuire said. “You just have to work hard and study hard.”
“When I wrote the book, it took 35 times, over and over again to get it right.”
“This is a big honor at Farragut Primary School,” Marshanda Pinchok, FPS Parent-Teacher Associ-ation vice president, said.
The visit came about when Alison McKenzie, mother of Conner McKenzie, an FPS student and Trotter’s grandson, reached out to Pinchok, she said.
“Her [fiancé's] grandson goes to this school, and he’s in class with my son, Brady Pinchok,” Pinchok said. “Conner’s mom told me about their program and said that they would make a special trip to Knoxville because [Con-ner] goes to school here.”
McGuire said they already were traveling to Nashville and were asked to stop in Farragut.
After McGuire read to the children, she and Trotta introduced Schmitty and presented the weather lesson. Each child in Conner’s class was given a book free of charge, Pinchok said.
Trotta and Schmitty are the National Science Teachers As-sociation’s weather team. Schmitty has appeared on “Ellen” TV show, “World News Tonight,” on Central Park stage and with Oprah Wom-frey. McGuire and Trotta combined their skills to do the program that merged their love of dogs and the weather, she said. Their inspiration is a 4-year-old, 4-pound Yorkshire Terrier.
Previously both schoolteachers, they left their careers in education to pursue other paths. For Trotta, that path was meteorology, and McGuire’s path led her to a corporate executive job then to author.
“We get so excited to inspire kids to think about studying subjects they were not excited about before,” she said.
For more information about Schmitty, go online to schmittytheweatherdog.com.
Schmitty 4 pounds Yorkshire terrier with a nose for the weather.
Not just another pretty face, wants to inspire kids.
