Summary Post #2

     Sonia joined the debate and extemporaneous team in high school where she became very good at listening to others to plan her response. Her hard work led to a full scholarship to Princeton. At the time, she knew very little about affirmative action, and although some questioned her abilities (like the school nurse), she persevered. One thing Sonia was very careful about was money. Her mother worked paycheck to paycheck, and Sonia never really had any money of her own. After her acceptance to Princeton, Sonia wanted to buy a new rain jacket, but when she went up to the counter, the saleswomen gave her this degrading look. When her mother said Sonia was going to Princeton, the saleswomen had a new attitude and respect for Sonia. 

Princeton University

     While in Princeton, she explored new interests and learned new cultures from her classmates who were from New Mexico and Alabama. She realized how limited her view was on other people because she had been confined in New York her whole life. An experiment with rats showed that not everything ends in success and that failure should not be feared. When her mother or Kevin would visit, they would sleep in the dorm room with her (while her roommate found somewhere else to sleep for the night) because they couldn't afford a hotel room. During her time in college, Abuelita died of ovarian cancer, and Sonia felt she lost a part of herself. She credits her grandmother with a spiritual power that is her protector. 

    Sonia joined Accion Puertorriquena which was a student minority group. Some of their campaigns include trying to get the University to hire more Hispanics because not one faculty member or even a janitor was Hispanic. While working for this group, she started learning more about her Puerto Rican history by starting her own class which included lots of reading. She realized the richness of her culture had been overshadowed by poverty. Sonia also started a volunteer program at a hospital where Spanish speakers could communicate with the administration. Sonia Sotomayor received the Pyne Prize which was the highest award a senior could get. After her years at Princeton, she married Kevin Noonan which she suggest a simple, inexpensive wedding (but her mother planned otherwise).

(Kevin Noonan, Sonia's high school sweetheart)

     At Yale, she met lifelong friends (Rudy, drew, Felix, and George) and her first true mentor (Jose Cabrenes). One comment that is repeatedly mentioned is how Rudy said, "You argue just like a guy." It was a compliment although it could be taken as snide remark. Rudy meant that she stated her case and would "defy anyone to prove you wrong." She kept up her with her heritage by studying Puerto Rican immigration policies and wrote an article that was printed in The Yale Law Journal. Also at Yale, she realized her passion for the public sector of law even to her friend's disappointment. But Sonia believed that money did not define success. She worked as a rookie assistant DA during the summer and learned she had to appeal to the emotions of the jury not just logic to win cases. 

     She loved Kevin and showed it when Kevin was attending medical school, and Sonia stayed with him even though she had a 2 hour commute from Princeton to Manhattan for her work. They slowly disconnected, and they split which led to Sonia moving back in with her mother. Sonia out shined him, but Kevin was not made but instead proud of his wife. He felt she didn't need him while Sonia realized she care for everyone but was dependent on herself. She found her own apartment and began saving money for the first time. Her friends became family, and she was a godmother to many. She thought about having a child, but she was more worried about the complications because she had Type 1 Diabetes. She insisted "having it all," or the American dream, was skewed because having a successful career but no children did not mean she wasn't living the dream.