LOOK PAST POLITICS, FOR JUST A MINUTE …
Less than a week ago, Justice Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in to the Supreme Court and became our country’s first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. Forget all the politics…she is to be admired for taking responsibility and rising to the challenge as a child and young woman to improve herself, and as an adult for being committed to improving the world around her.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was born to a Puerto Rican family and grew up in a public housing project in the South Bronx. Her dad was a factory worker with a third grade education and died when she was only nine years old. After her father’s death, Sotomayor turned to books for solace and her love of reading and learning grew.
Sotomayor and her brother Juan acquired their strong belief in the power of education from their mom. Sotomayor was driven by an indefatigable work ethic and while managing a diagnosis of juvenile diabetes, she excelled in school. She graduated as valedictorian of her class and won a scholarship to Princeton University.
Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton. She was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. At Yale Law School, Justice Sotomayor served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and as managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order.
Justice Sotomayor’s improved herself through hard work and dedication, and as a result her community has benefitted. On a local level, her favorite project is the Development School for Youth program, which sponsors workshops for inner city high school students. Every semester, approximately 70 students attend 16 weekly workshops that are designed to teach them how to function in a work setting. The workshop leaders include investment bankers, corporate executives and Justice Sotomayor, who conducts a workshop on the law for 25 to 35 students. In addition to the workshop experience, each student is offered a summer job by one of the corporate sponsors. The experience is rewarding for the lawyers and exciting for the students, commented Justice Sotomayor, as “it opens up possibilities that the students never dreamed of before.” [Federal Bar Council News, Sept./Oct./Nov. 2005, p.20] This is one of many ways that Justice Sotomayor is using her education and experience to improve the world and inspire young people to achieve their dreams.
Justice Sotomayor now has the opportunity to role model on a national level. She improved herself and now can improve the world.
Some of the information in this post was extracted from a White House press release which can be read by clicking here.
And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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