SAN ANTONIO – If you catch KSAT’s weather coverage on Saturday and Sunday evenings, you will notice a new face starting this weekend.
Ken Slama will be joining the team to handle those newscasts during the holiday season.
Slama currently serves a science teacher at Churchill High School. But before moving to San Antonio this past summer, he spent four years as the morning meteorologist at KQDS in Duluth, Minnesota.
“Being a teacher is hard work,” Slama said. “But, as cliche as it is, the reward of seeing your students learn makes it worth it. Watching them make connections with the content and start to really understand what I am teaching is special, and I feel blessed to be a part of that with them.”
He said he has mentioned to his students that he will be taking on this fill-in role.
“My students are well aware of my previous role as a Meteorologist in Duluth,” Slama said. “In fact, I was still working in Minnesota just three weeks before the school year started at NEISD. When I told them I would be filling in for about a month at KSAT, there were lots of students who got excited for me and asked questions. Several mentioned actual interest in turning on the news on a weekend evening. Others reacted like teenagers do and acted indifferent. I know they think it is awesome, though, but are too cool to express it.”
Slama said he loved doing the weather, but there are parts of it he is OK leaving behind.
“I don’t miss getting up way before the sun to do it,” Slama said.
He added that he still gets to do the weather forecasting with his classes.
“I do get my weather fix at school when the occasion calls for it,” Slama said. “Even though I teach chemistry, my students will get an impromptu lesson in atmospheric science along with a weather forecast. If it’s raining in the morning, I’ll put the radar on the projector and let them know it will be dry by lunch. Or, if we have a humid start to the day, I’ll give them a brief lesson on fronts and tell them about the more comfortable afternoon conditions that await us.”
As far as the Texas winter, Slama said he’s OK with it so far.
“Maybe it is recency bias, but I for one am enjoying the mild winter weather,” Slama said. ”A couple of years ago, we had record winter snowfall up North when there was over a foot of snow still on the ground in mid-April.”
Slama moved to San Antonio in July, and he said the Alamo City has been wonderful so far.
“Everyone we’ve met has been super welcoming and helpful in getting us settled in and acquainted with the community,” Slama said. “There are still many places I haven’t been able to go yet, but I love that there are so many options available to take my kids within such a short distance.”
He said he has learned one thing that San Antonians love.
“The one thing that I really enjoy about San Antonio, which was never really a thing in my life before moving here, is the breakfast tacos,” Slama said.
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