9I

#20. Attend any events connected to the Open Read, My Beloved World. There will be many of these events throughout the semester. Post info and discussion on your blog along with photos. Sonia Sotomayor’s visit to SCSU is a required event, and that lecture can count as your Blog I item for that week.

Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, visited Southern Connecticut State University on Monday, October 21, 2013 at 7:00 P.M. at the John Lyman Center for the Preforming Arts. 

I attended this event Monday night with Paige Slack, a freshman also here at Southern.  She is in my Inquiry class so we decided to go to the event together.  It was truly an outstanding performance.  It was a great experience especially for freshman that were able to attend this event and not just upperclassman.  Sonia Sotomayor made a remarkable speech and throughout the lecture, I could relate to what she was talking about because freshman students were required to read the Common Read, My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor.  This book was a great story on how she strived for her goals and then finally reached her dreams.

Almost 1,300 people, students, faculty and staff attended this one hour-long event, including New Haven's Columbus School seventh and eighth graders.  The talk was a one-on-one interview with President Mary A. Papazian, who asked her questions that students wrote to Sonia Sotomayor during class.  There were many interesting questions that Sonia did answer and she included personal stories in her responses. 

Throughout this event, her dialogue focused on her life lessons and her incredible journey to get where she is today.  She gave a lot of advice on college and how students should take courses outside of their comfort zone.  Sonia said "Take courses just because they are interesting...Become a more interesting person," (Link: http://www.southernct.edu/news/sotomayorvisit.html)

It is not everyday where you can be a couple feet from a Supreme Court Justice, and here she was at Southern Connecticut State University.  I was very grateful for attending this event Monday evening where Sonia Sotomayor reflected on her personal life and shared some her deepest fears and wonderful achievements.