{"id":1986,"date":"2018-04-06T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T08:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ontherecord.empiremocktrial.org\/?p=1986"},"modified":"2018-04-06T12:36:56","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T12:36:56","slug":"meet-amber-rumancik-newest-member-of-the-empire-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ontherecord.empiremocktrial.org\/?p=1986","title":{"rendered":"Meet Amber Rumancik: Newest Member of the Empire Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rumancik Becomes Empire’s Director of Competition Experience<\/h3>\n

Empire Mock Trial is thrilled to announce that Amber Rumancik has joined the Empire Mock Trial Team for the 2018 season as its Director of Competition Experience (\u201cDCE\u201d). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHer experience as a lawyer, mock trial coach, mother and event planner makes her a perfect fit for the role,\u201d said Empire Executive Director Justin Matarrese. \u201cWe are beyond lucky to add an incredible professional and an all-around amazing human to our team.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For the past two decades, Rumancik has been involved with mock trial at all levels: as a competitor, coach, judge and even a guest speaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cMock trial has shaped not only my career path but who I am as a person,\u201d said Rumancik. “<\/span>Mock trial people are my people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The DCE is responsible for ensuring that Empire participants have a world class experience from start-to-finish through leading school outreach, building relationships with teams and coordinating event logistics. On Competition weekend, the DCE will be the primary person responsible for interfacing with coaches, students and staff.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEmpire is magnetic. Every competition I have attended, whether as a coach or a judge, has left me wanting more,\u201d said Rumancik.\u00a0 \u201cThe organization\u2019s efforts to make mock trial accessible to all teams by offering need-based aid speaks to my heart.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The organization could have written an article singing Amber\u2019s praises, while describing her boundless energy and unwavering positivity. However, we thought that it would be more effective if you saw Amber through the eyes of those she cares about most: her children. Since her two boys (5 and 2) aren\u2019t yet old enough to write, we are excited to have a guest writer today: Katie Shapiro. She\u2019s Amber\u2019s former student, current co-coach and an Empire Alum, and her words are as true as they are heart-warming. <\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

Introducing Amber <\/i><\/b>
\n<\/i><\/b>By: Katie Shapiro<\/span><\/p>\n

It is my honor to introduce the Empire Mock Trial community to Amber Rumancik, Empire\u2019s new Director of Competition Experience. I have been lucky enough to know Amber for six years now, both as an attorney coach and now as a friend and role model.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amber is from Jacksonville, Florida and has been participating in mock trial since she was\u00a0<\/span>fifteen years old. Now in her thirties, Amber has a law degree from Florida State University\u00a0<\/span>School of Law, practiced law at Foley and Lardner, and has a husband and two young boys.\u00a0<\/span>Throughout all of this, Amber has never taken a year off from mock trial. She began coaching\u00a0<\/span>alongside her mentor and former teacher, Ed Lange, when she was a freshman in college, and now is the head coach for Fletcher High School\u2019s Mock Trial Team. While it is true that Amber\u2019s dedication and experience with mock trial makes her beyond qualified for this role at Empire, it is not the reason why every student that meets Amber quickly learns to love and respect her. Indeed, the amount of lives Amber has impacted over the past fifteen years as a mock trial coach indicate that there is something else going on, something very special about Amber. Maybe it is her ability to explain the most complicated rules of evidence to a high school\u00a0<\/span>freshman, or her uncanny ability to play every witness in the case packet. She is a fierce,\u00a0<\/span>brilliant-minded attorney (if you have ever been crossed by her in practice, you know this), but\u00a0<\/span>what\u2019s more, she is a nurturing, funny, reliable and supportive woman.<\/span><\/p>\n

For years now, Amber has welcomed students into her home when they asked for extra\u00a0<\/span>mock trial practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

She has cooked us dinner and sat with us at her kitchen table for hours analyzing a case, never\u00a0<\/span>once appearing impatient or tired (a side note\u2013Amber wakes up at five in the morning every day\u00a0<\/span>and still manages to have more energy than anyone I have ever met.)<\/span><\/p>\n

She has celebrated us with cake when a member from the team makes all \u2018A\u2019s\u2019 on their report\u00a0<\/span>card.<\/span><\/p>\n

She has sat with us when we were frustrated with tears over mock trial, and then made us believe in ourselves again.<\/span><\/p>\n

She is quick with a safety pin or hairbrush in the courtroom to save any fashion emergency.<\/span><\/p>\n

She knows the answer to any mock trial question, ever (and most other questions too).<\/span><\/p>\n

She has visited us when our parents were in the hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n

She has attended our graduations.<\/span><\/p>\n

She has lead countless teams to victory, including three first-place finishes in the state of Florida.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n