Rialto native, Eisenhower graduate Vanessa Rumbles earns Emmy for CNN news segment

On September 28, Eisenhower High School Class of 2003 and California State University Fullerton graduate Vanessa Rumbles, earned an Emmy for Outstanding News Analysis Editorial and Opinion.

Rumbles, who works as a line producer for CNN’s New Day Weekend in Atlanta, contributed to a news segment in response to Trump’s attack where he stated Representative Elijah Cummings’ district, which includes Baltimore, is a “very dangerous and filthy, infested place.”

The anchor that Rumbles was producing the segment with, Victor Blackwell, just so happened to be a Baltimore native.

“Infested he says…which is what the President said about Representative Cummings’ district and he Tweeted that no human would want to live there. You know who lived there, Mr. President? I did,” said an emotional Blackwell.

“There are challenges, no doubt, but people are proud of their community. People get up and go to work there, they care for their families and love their children who pledge allegiance to the flag…just like people who live in districts of congressmen who support you, sir. They are Americans, too,” concluded Blackwell.

Rumbles said her team did not realize the magnitude of how this segment was going to perform and connect with millions of people around the country.

“This entire experience has been incredibly humbling. I remember being in the control room during the live taping and just being completely speechless. The anchor, Victor Blackwell, got choked up and had tears in his eyes while speaking live on-air…he began thinking about his mom, who was a single mother,” said Rumbles.

Rumbles stated that the entire experience of moving to Atlanta from Southern California, gaining employment with CNN and winning an Emmy reminded her how proud and connected she is to the city that raised her – Rialto.

“People often ask me who my biggest influences are and I say my parents and the Inland Empire. Rialto was such a great community during my formative years and I had so many great teachers. Rialto Unified School District really goes out of their way to help folks,” Rumbles said.

Rialto Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Cuauhtémoc Avila, who announced her award at a school board meeting, said, “I join the RUSD Board of Education in congratulating Miss Rumbles for such an esteemed achievement. She joins the ranks of a few who have earned this prestigious award. We applaud Miss Rumbles for her outstanding contribution in the area of broadcast journalism. It is RUSD graduates, such as Miss Rumbles, who make us all proud to be in the profession of educating and developing young minds. We look forward in honoring Miss Rumbles, in person, at a future Board of Education meeting, if the situation allows it. Her tenacity, hard work and talent serve her well. We are extremely proud of her success.”

She also detailed how her third grade teacher at Henry Elementary School in Rialto aided in her desire to produce stories, through an assignment he required his students to complete every week.

“My third grade teacher Mr. Damian De Antonio would assign my class and I current event assignments and that is what initially sparked my interest to want to work in news. After watching the lives tream of the Emmys, the next morning he was one of the first people I called to thank and share the news with,” continued Rumbles.

Rumbles said that although she now lives in Atlanta, she will not change her 951 area code because she is proud of the city that she comes from; she shared that every time she returns home, she looks forward to grabbing a burger from Baker’s Drive Thru.

“I feel very humbled and proud to share this with my hometown. As a woman of color, half black and half Hispanic, I feel even more compelled to use my voice and lift the voices of our communities. I would like to send a huge thank you to my father Lucian Bob Rumbles, my mother Irma Rumbles, third grade teacher Damian De Antonio, Anchor Victor Blackwell and my entire New Day Weekend team,” concluded Rubbles.

To view Rumbles’ Emmy winning CNN segment, visit https://bit.ly/313HI7q.