- Zee finds new home in New York with ‘Good Morning America’
Ginger Zee walked down one of the hallways recently at ABC’s New York studio and glanced out at the area where the network’s main set is located. There sat Katie Couric, the prominent newswoman, doing work for an ABC News segment.
Zee stopped for a moment to take it all in. It finally hit her.
“I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I am actually here,’ ” Zee said. “I am actually working with the people who I grew up watching and who inspired me.”
In early November, Zee, a 2002 Valparaiso University graduate, became the weather anchor for the ABC News weekend edition of “Good Morning America.” Zee served as a meteorologist at NBC’s WMAQ-Channel 5 in Chicago for the last five years before jumping at the opportunity to join network television.
A Michigan native, who also previously worked at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Mich., Zee is the primary weekend meteorologist at “GMA” and a weekday correspondent. She will also fill in for “GMA” weather anchor Sam Champion.
But what thrills Zee the most is that she will be in the field reporting major weather events.
“I will be able to report live from the storm,” said Zee, who has made guest appearances on Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers.” “Hurricanes, blizzards, you name it — I will be in it. I have spent the majority of my last 10 years in television in the studio, and I am ready to get outside.”
Zee earned a Bachelor of Science in meteorology at Valpo, cutting her teeth in the University’s prestigious Meteorology Department. She also served as an adjunct professor from 2008 to 2011 at Valpo, teaching weathercasting for the Communication Department.
“I definitely feel a strong connection to Valpo and the meteorology program as a whole,” Zee said. “The university has been hands-on from start to finish during my education and beyond.”
Although the assignment with “GMA” in New York is a dream come true, Zee admits the move is bittersweet, because it means moving away from the Midwest.
“I am already incredibly homesick,” Zee said. “I’ve never known anything but lake-effect snow. I worked in two different markets in Michigan before Chicago, too, so my professional life has taken me all over the Great Lakes. I can’t wait to come home and visit.”
