Stephanie Abrams grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida. When it was time to choose a college, she enrolled at the University of Florida in Gainesville. There she enrolled in as many science classes as she could. She fell in love with meteorology.
A 1999 initiate of the Delta Phi Epsilon chapter at the University of Florida, she served as Chapter President. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, she graduated with honors. Her major was geography with a minor in mathematics. She also earned a second Bachelor’s in meteorology from Florida State University.
While at Florida State, Abrams honed her on-air skills doing weather forecasts on FSU Live, a student production. Her first job as a meteorologist was at the ABC affiliate in Tallahassee, Florida, WTXL. She began working for The Weather Channel in the summer of 2003. She has been there ever since and has also done some work for NBC News.
Today happens to be Delta Phi Epsilon’s founding date. On March 17, 1917, five coeds at Washington Square College Law, a Division of New York University, founded Delta Phi Epsilon. The DIMES, as they are referred to, are Dorothy Cohen Schwartzman, Ida Bienstock Landau, Minna Goldsmith Mahler, Eva Effron Robin, and Sylvia Steierman Cohn. Delta Phi Epsilon was formally incorporated under New York State law on March 17, 1922.
That these five women were law students back in the day before women could vote in a federal election is impressive. Today, one must have a bachelor’s degree to apply to law school. In 1917, this was not the case. The American Bar Association was formed in 1878, but the first two women to join the organization did so a year after Delta Phi Epsilon was founded.
Delta Phi Epsilon’s founders were between the ages of 17 and 19 when they formed the organization. I suspect they were working on an undergraduate degree in law, rather than what Delta Phi Epsilon members of today aspiring to be lawyers would do, spend additional years of study after obtaining a bachelor’s degree.
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