Michelle Hennessy – News Writer
Everyone has a choice; people can opt to look at the negative side of a situation, or choose to look at the positive, according to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
After releasing her book “My Beloved World” earlier this year, Sotomayor said she gets asked about one quote in particular: “People who live in difficult circumstances need to know that happy endings are possible,” according to the book.
“It’s not just your environment that makes you happy, but how you choose to look at it,” said Sotomayor during her visit to SCSU.
The book was chosen as this year’s Common Read for freshmen as it has so many relatable issues that students can learn from, according to Dawn Cathey, the dean of Student Affairs.
“I think she is very much like many of our students,” said Cathey. “The message students will get from [her visit] is that if you follow your passion, the sky’s the limit, there’s nothing you can’t do. When you focus on identifying your own passion there’s no limit to your success.”
During her visit, Sotomayor spoke about different issues she has faced during her career including self-doubt, the importance of friendship and discrimination she has faced for being a Hispanic female.
She said during her nomination, she nearly resigned as the people against her became more and more vocal.
“Most people are fearful of failing,” said Sotomayor. “If I fail will people think less of me? And more importantly, will I think less of myself? I thought of pulling out during my nomination, the attacks on me were wearing me down. People were saying I was not smart enough to do the job. You hear that and you start to doubt yourself.”
SCSU student Cindy Maderia felt she could relate to this but hopes to take on the advice Sotomayor gave throughout the event.
“I enjoyed how she spoke about her hardships and how she overcame some insecurities,” said Maderia. “I feel like I definitely related to that; I’m quite an insecure person so I found it really interesting to hear what she said about that and take that information and use it for me too.”
Sotomayor cited her friends as instrumental in not giving up, saying good friends are those who bring out the best in you, something that hit home for Southern students like freshman Rachel Scicchitano
“I really liked how she talked about friendship and how a good friendship and the values of it bring out the good in you,” said Scicchitano. “I think that’s really true, the best friendships are the ones that you can have a good time with and they really do bring out the good in you.”
And it wasn’t just Southern students that came to see the Supreme Court Justice. Students from Quinnipiac University also travelled over to hear from Sotomayor.
“She’s one of the people I most admire,” said Ali Toumekian, a law student from Quinnipiac. “I think the most prevalent point of the night was when she talked about friendship – that really struck a chord with me because you’re only a better person when you’re around other people and only other people can make you better.”
Vice President of Student Affairs, Tracy Tyree, said this was a fantastic opportunity for students to just be in the same room as a Supreme Court Justice who, according to Biography.com, was the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in US history.
“She’s so unique and impressive,” said Tyree. “We really hoped students would take away a nugget of wisdom with them to ponder and mull over and influence in some way how they go about their lives.
