“I come back for the people.” (ft. Grace Zangerle)
May I Be Heard? Episode 3, featuring two-time Empire competitor, seven-time Blue Shirt and Empire Online Blue Shirt Lead, Grace Zangerle.
June is always a nostalgic time of year, and it’s no different here at Empire. Summer vacation is starting for many of our competitors, while others have just concluded their last Empire competition and are starting a brand new chapter.
But for many Empire alum, including this week’s May I Be Heard star, the Empire Experience doesn’t end with high school graduation. For Grace Zangerle, an Empire alumna from Oregon, some of her best experiences with Empire started after she graduated, when she began volunteering as a Blue Shirt. After she started college at Washington State University, she got to visit Empire cities that she never got to compete in—including New York and Atlanta—as well as visit her old haunts in San Francisco.
“After my season ended in 2018, I knew that I was not ready to say goodbye,” Grace said. “I had made great memories and experiences with Empire already and I loved the idea of making more connections and memories by Blue Shirting!”
Four in-person competitions, three virtual competitions and lots of state partnership competitions later, Grace can’t get enough of Empire.
“I love coming back to Empire so that I can see all of my friends who live across the country!” said Grace. “I have really made personal connections that keep me motivated and excited throughout the year.”
When she was a competitor, Grace’s favorite part of Empire was the Empire Exchange. Volunteering in-person, she liked it even more.
“I love coming back each year and seeing the returning teams and students who always impress me with the time and effort they have dedicated into their new cases,” she said. “I love seeing them at the exchange not only because we get to exchange fun gifts but because you get to know students and learn their amazing stories!”
Even though many of Grace’s favorite parts of Empire have changed in the virtual world, Grace knew she still wanted to help. Still, it wasn’t so easy the first time around, when Grace volunteered as a Blue Shirt for the 2020 Empire Chicago Online Competition.
“Boy, oh boy, was the first online experience nerve-racking! Everything was so new.”
Still, even with so much of the Blue Shirt experience changing, Grace says that setting up the courtroom was actually easier in the virtual world—and she got to do a lot of it while wearing sweatpants.
Regardless of the changes and complications, Grace was glad to see Empire so present in the virtual space. “It was heart-warming to know that Empire could still provide students with the opportunity to participate in mock trial even though the world was so up-in-the-air and uncertain,” she said.
After years of Blue Shirting, Grace was offered a leadership position with Empire this spring: the role of Blue Shirt Lead.
As a Lead, Grace supported and supervised a team of Blue Shirts, each of whom was responsible for a virtual courtroom. Dashing from Zoom room to Zoom room, Grace would ensure that her students and Blue Shirts were at ease and that trials ran smoothly.
“It was awesome becoming a Blue Shirt Lead! All of the blue shirt leads and myself would be in one big Google Meets and we would all make sure that everyone’s trials were going well,” Grace said. “It was so much fun working with 4 or 5 other blue shirts who would tell me about fun things that happened in their various trials!”
Serving as a Lead not only allowed her to stay involved with Empire, it also gave her continuing opportunities to network with the Empire Family, even in the virtual world. This was especially helpful for her, as Grace is starting law school in the fall.
“Empire has allowed me to meet with countless lawyers, judges, law students, and so forth who have all been able to give me their take on law school,” Grace said. “I was able to get a letter of reference from Empire that I used when applying to law school, plus working as a Blue Shirt allowed me to stand out on my application!”
Even though she’ll be busy with law school, Grace looks forward to Blue Shirting more and even judging in the future—both online and in-person.
We’re so fortunate she’s part of the Empire Family.
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Watch Grace’s full interview playback here.
Ready for your own Empire Experience? Applications are OPEN for the 2021 Cyberspace Season this Fall. To learn more and how to apply, click here.