Work Experience student flies high with MVO
Ever since I was 8 years old I liked to be around the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) as I loved to watch the helicopter take-off and land. As a little boy, in my mind I was saying “I wonder what it would be like working at the MVO?”
At 15, I got my first chance to see behind the scenes of the Observatory when The Department of Community Youth & Sports Services came to The Montserrat Secondary School and told us that they had a two-day children’s programme with work experience. They gave us two options to and I picked MVO and the airport – my two favourite jobs.
When I first came to the MVO I was a little bit nervous, but after a while I felt better. The first two staff members who approached me were Dr. Thomas Christopher and TiVonne Howe. They showed me what work they do at the MVO and out in the field. I then met Tappy Syers who showed me what work he does as a technician at the MVO. We went out in the field to a site named Bronsby at the edge of Fox’s Bay, where we were checking on a GPS tracker.
Later that day, Dr. Thomas Christopher, TiVonne Howe and I went to Plymouth – this used to be Montserrat’s capital city but was destroyed following volcanic eruptions. Here we stop at the old Seaport, when I looked back I saw gas coming from the volcano and spreading down the village of Plymouth. We followed a trail and walked through some bushes where we reached one of the landing sites to change some gas tubes, which allows the scientists to see the measurement of gases.
This year, I graduated Montserrat Secondary School and The Department Youth & Sports Services said there was work experiences again. I was happy because they gave us a summer job for three weeks other than 2 days! This time we had to put three preferences, I picked Agriculture, MVO and Airport.
When they told me I was going to MVO I was thankful for it! On my first day of work I was a little nervous but later on I realized there was nothing to worry about. Kathleen Retourné showed me how to make posters and take pictures. She showed me how to set up a poster for Weekly Reports for the website and social media, and showed me what pictures to take for social media posts.
On Thursday I was happy that the Helicopter came and I was allowed to go on the helicopter! I got to take some pictures of the landing sites on the unsafe zone. While flying in the air I saw lots of old broken-down houses in Plymouth. In the afternoon I went out in the field on the helicopter with Dr. Karen Pascal and Tappy Syers, we went to Brodricks first so that Tappy Syers could set-up his GPS and EDM, which measure deformation of the volcano. We then went to South Souf so that Dr. Karen Pascal could download the data on her computer, after which we landed at Lower Chances Peak so that she could change the gas tubes.
While I was outside I took some pictures of her working and I took some pictures of the helicopter, too. We then went back for Tappy at Brodricks, while flying it took us about 1 minute to get there! When Tappy had finished his GPS and EDM checks, we went back to MVO and finished the day.
When we landed, Tappy and Karen came out the helicopter and the pilot shut down the helicopter. Greg, the pilot came and said: “Mahkeem!!!! It’s time to come out, you can’t come to Antigua with us!” He said that because I did want to get out of the helicopter – ha ha ha!
And that’s my end of the story. It is a great experience for me, but my favorite part is always when the helicopter comes every Thursday, so I can get to go on it and land at new sites.
By Mahkeem Greenaway – 2021 work experience
