Kids all over Henry County this morning got a glimpse of a favorite TV show while getting ready for school. It could have been a cartoon, or something on Disney or Nickelodeon. Perhaps it was SportsCenter on ESPN.

  Myles Benjamin was likely checking out America’s Morning Headquarters (AMHQ) on the Weather Channel. It’s his favorite. A typical school day for the Timber Ridge Elementary School fifth-grader begins with breakfast and TWC superstar Jim Cantore.

  The youngster’s obsession with weather is paying off this week. He and three other young people from across the country are the winners of a contest cosponsored by Lands’ End and are spending this Friday at the Weather Channel’s studio northwest of Atlanta. Each of them will be featured as a guest meteorologist to air Saturday, which is World Meteorologist Day.

  Myles, 10, was chosen from a pool of hundreds of applicants ages 6-16 along with a girl from New York, another girl from Illinois and a boy from South Carolina. He found out about the contest at the last minute, submitting his entry less than 48 hours before the deadline.

  “My aunt knows I am addicted to the weather, so she sent the link to my mom and I entered,” he said.

  After making it to the second round, he submitted an essay as well as a short video shot right outside his house. He is no stranger to the camera, having already created his own YouTube channel under the handle Chilly_Games to showcase his interest in video games. Judging criteria included poise, creativity and overall love of meteorology, according to a contest spokesperson.

  “They told him to write a paper about why he loved the weather,” said Angela Benjamin, Myles’ mother. “The video was of him doing a weather forecast, which he did in the front yard. He really just came up with it off the top of his head.”

  She thought the grand prize would mainly consist of a tour of the studio. She said it wasn’t until after he won that she realized there was so much more in the prize package.

  The four guest meteorologists are scheduled to check into a hotel room Thursday night, courtesy of the network, with a full day of activities the next day. There will be the studio tour, but that is followed by a training session before the young TV stars are taken back for – you guessed it – hair and makeup. Each student will record his or her segment Friday for airing the next day. (Exact airtimes were not known when this paper went to press. Check the Times’ Facebook page and website for an update.)

  There has already been a flurry of social media activity at the winning contestants’ respective schools. Myles is especially looking forward to a face-to-face meeting with his counterpart from South Carolina, as the two have already connected via Twitter.

  Myles is having an exceptional academic year at Timber Ridge, where he is a student in Mrs. Hughes’ class. When not at school, he enjoys playing video games and playing outside with his friends, as well as soccer, drawing, and traveling with the family. He was Student of the Month at Timber Ridge earlier this year.

  He has an iPod with all of the latest weather apps, and for Christmas he received a mini-weather station with a wind gauge and a variety of instruments for measuring such things as barometric pressure, which TV weather people refer to frequently but very few viewers understand. Myles admitted that he doesn’t really know what it is.

  His weather knowledge has broadened from having been able to travel frequently with his parents and two sisters. “He is always looking for the weather station whenever we check into a hotel,” said Lawton Benjamin, his father. “He also gets a lot of different experiences with weather from a geographical standpoint. He sees how it is different in San Jose, Calif., then in New York City or Miami, since he has been to all of those places.”

  Of course, back home his routine includes plenty of time with his favorite cable channel.

  “Myles watches the Weather Channel like most kids watch cartoons,” said his mother. “He wakes up to it in the morning and I have to turn it off when he goes to bed.”

  Now he is prepping for his big moment and getting ready to enjoy what will likely be his 15 minutes of fame.   Unless, of course, he winds up doing the weather on “Good Morning, America” in 25 years.