Julie Grant to provide play-by-play for spelling bee
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STEUBENVILLE-- Julie Grant paused for a moment during an interview last week to remember a favorite television program she enjoyed watching while growing up in Steubenville.
"When I was a kid, I grew up on 'Reading Rainbow,'" she said while thinking about the program's longtime host, LeVar Burton. "I just loved him as a little girl, and now I get to work with him as an adult."
Grant will have that opportunity this week, when she joins Burton as part of the team that will provide television coverage for the semifinals and finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Burton, who was the host of the classic PBS series for more than 23 years, will host the coverage Wednesday and Thursday on the Ion and Bounce networks. Grant will be handling play-by-play duties along with Paul Loeffler. They will be on-site at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.
"LeVar will be the overall host," Grant explained. "Paul and I will be sharing information and some facts about the spellers."
It will be close, the Catholic Central High School graduate said, to what she does for Court TV, where she has worked as the midday host since helping to relaunch the one-time cable favorite as a digital and streaming network about three years ago.
"There, I explain whatever the rule of evidence is and whether the advocacy is great or not so great," explained Grant, who earned her law degree from the University of Akron and received a master of laws from Temple University. She gained legal experience as an assistant district attorney in Allegheny County.
Loeffler has been a part of the announcing team for every National Bee since 2006, Scripps said. Grant, meanwhile, will be making her first appearance as a commentator.
Both have additional Bee experience -- Loeffler finished tied for 13th in the 1990 National Bee, while Grant, the daughter of Carolyn and Dr. William Grant of Steubenville, competed in the 1995 National Bee. While a pupil at Aquinas Elementary School, Grant earned her trip to Washington by winning the Jefferson-Harrison County Regional Spelling Bee, Presented by the Herald-Star.
"Knowing how it goes certainly will be a help, knowing what to expect and what the kids are going through," she said.
This year's field of 234 spellers who range between the ages of 7 and 15 will include Andrew Macdonald. A 13-year-old seventh-grader at Bishop John King Mussio Junior High School, Macdonald captured his spot on March 19 when he correctly spelled "barnacle" to win the regional bee at Buckeye North Elementary School.
The son of Suzanne and Paul Macdonald of Steubenville had to survive 39 rounds of competition that were held across almost four hours.
Whoever emerges as the winner of this year's National Bee will take home a cash prize of $50,000, a medal and a trophy from Scripps; $2,500 in cash and a reference library from Merriam-Webster; and $400 in reference works from Encyclopaedia Brittanica. The second-place finisher will receive $25,000 in cash, and the third-place finisher will receive $15,000 in cash.
"The competition is very intense," Grant said. "There's so much pressure. As brilliant and as prepared as these kids can be, there's a lot of luck that goes into it. I hope they all know that if they don't win, they're going to be all right.
"I remember when I went to Washington to compete in the bee," she said. "We walked into the hotel, and I saw all of these other kids with all of their books who were constantly studying. My parents told me everything would be OK and that I would do the best that I could. I hope the parents of these kids will tell them just to do the best that they can."
Spellers typically go through a process that can include classroom, building and school district bees before they get to their regional competition. Grant said that an executive from E.W. Scripps, which sponsors the National Bee and is the parent company of Court TV, Ion and Bounce, had mentioned that the spellers already were among the Bee-lite because they had earned their spots after going through a series of tough competitions along the way.
While her experience with the bee will be a help to her during the bee coverage, Grant said that her broadcasting experience will serve her well. Grant earned a bachelor of arts degree in mass media from the University of Mount Union. In addition to being a trial expert, she worked as a reporter and anchor at WTOV-TV, WGHP-TV in Greensboro, N.C., and at KDKA-TV, where she also was the legal editor. Grant at one time was a member of the Penguins cheerleaders.
Grant, who generally is on the air with Court TV from noon to 3 p.m., said people find that watching trials from across the country can be addictive. That's been especially true during the past few weeks as Court TV has provided courtroom coverage of Johnny Depp's defamation suit against Amber Heard, his former wife. Depp is suing her for $50 million in Fairfax, Va. Heard is countersuing for defamation and asking for $100 million.
"Sometimes, it's just so entertaining to watch," she said. "Once, my brother Tony (who now is a podiatrist and practices with his father in Wintersville) came to watch me when I was working for Allegheny County, and after the trial I asked him what he thought. He said, 'Give me some popcorn and a Coke, and I could watch this all day.'"
Grant, whose other brother, Billy, also is an attorney who recently took a job with the University of Texas where he reviews contracts for the athletic department, said all of the interest in Court TV is a good thing.
"We've reached a point where people want more transparency," she said. "They are watching us on three screens at the same time. It can be intriguing and a learning opportunity, too.
"I think one of the best compliments I can get is when a person tweets and says they learned so much. Sometimes we call our audience the 13th juror -- people love to be engaged."
Grant lives in Atlanta, where Court TV is based, but she says she still spends a lot of time in the Tri-State Area, visiting with friends and family and seeing her fiance, Pittsburgh-based musician Justin Fabus. She said she continues to recover from a car accident in Atlanta that happened in April.
Competition in the National Bee begins Tuesday morning, with quarterfinals set for Wednesday morning. Those rounds will be streamed on Ion Plus and Bounce XL. Semifinals are set to begin at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and will be streamed until 8 p.m., when coverage begins on Ion and Bounce. The finals will begin at 8 p.m. Thursday and will be televised on Ion and Bounce. Ion can be found on channels 124 and 1421 for Xfinity customers in the Steubenville area.
Grant said the deal to be a part of the bee came together quickly.
"Who would have thought that this little girl from Steubenville who competed in the bee in 1995 would be working for Scripps and a host on Court TV?" she asked.