Katrina Hand’s Path From Brookdale To The Front Lines

Katrina Hand reflects on her two years at Brookdale Community College as a defining chapter filled with support, growth, and lasting connections. As a member of both the women’s volleyball and softball teams, she developed valuable skills in teamwork, time management, and balance lessons that continue to guide her today in her role as an Incident Meteorologist with the National Weather Service, where she works alongside teams in high-pressure environments to help keep others safe.

“I had the best two years at Brookdale Community College, and I am so thankful for the amazing coaches, professors, staff and teammates that all contributed to this positive experience. My time at Brookdale as a student athlete also taught me many life lessons like teamwork, time management, and work life balance.

Today I work as an Incident Meteorologist (IMET) for the National Weather Service in Sacramento, California. I am deployed to wildfires to keep the firefighters safe and help the Incident Management Team suppress the wildfire. The teamwork skills that I learned through Brookdale Athletics are still with me today, and they help me fit in with every team I work with so that we can fulfill our mission.

Wildfire deployments usually require being away from home for weeks at a time, and a high workload with stressful situations. When I was a student athlete at Brookdale, time management was a crucial skill for success. Being a part of two teams, working, and taking a full academic course load meant that time and organizational skills were essential. Brookdale helped me improve these skills and they continue to help me in the field today when I am presented with challenging situations.

Fire season can get very busy and require many hours of overtime. Having been a part of Brookdale Athletics, I learned the importance of work life balance, especially with having busy sports, work and class schedules. Today I balance the wildfire deployments by spending my spare time with friends and family through hobbies like line dancing, playing volleyball, and going on adventures in nature through hiking, backpacking and snowshoeing.

I am so grateful that I’ve found my path and it all started at Brookdale. I will always be proud to be Jersey Blue and I will forever treasure the experiences, memories and lifelong friendships. Thank you!”