When she found herself weighing a job offer while nearing the end of law school, Amanda Elkins '06 didn't immediately call her parents. She did not consult with a law professor.
She reached out, instead, to Rand Wonio '73, the longtime time Davenport attorney who fostered her interest in the law as the first-ever coach of the St. Ambrose Mock Trial team.
"I knew that Rand would steer me in the right direction," she said. "Rand was larger than life. He was a great person and a great attorney."
Wonio died in October 2015 at the age of 65 following a brief battle with cancer. His impact on his alma mater is being celebrated this fall through a conference room named in his honor in the newly opened Frank and Dorothy "Jane" Folwell Center for Political Science and Pre-Law.
The center is located just south of the Rogalski Center and west of the townhouses. The interior of the longstanding brick house was remodeled over the summer with funds provided by the Folwell Endowed Chair for Political Science.
The Rand Wonio Conference Room is furnished through memorial gifts to the university in his honor, including from Lane & Waterman, the law firm where Wonio worked for 38 years.
Wonio served St. Ambrose in many ways, none more significantly than as the founding leader of the Mock Trial program.
"The students really took to him," said Bill Parsons, PhD, a professor and chair of the Political Science and Leadership Department. "He had a personality that was really easy to connect with. And as much as he coached those kids, he went beyond. He was all about trying to connect these kids to law schools and law firms."
Now an assistant supervising attorney with the University of Iowa's Student Legal Services, Elkins captained the 2006 Mock Trial team. It was SAU's first team to advance to the national meet. At a post-event awards ceremony, Elkins recalled, an emcee referred to the "Bees from St. Ambrose."
"Rand yelled to the crowd of hundreds, ‘It's the Fighting Bees!'" she recalled. "He was proud of the team and proud of the university."
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