On Saturday, December 8th, Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, spoke at Turn of River Middle School through a program with the Ferguson Library, discussing her career, her success story, and her newly released book, Turning Pages: My Life Story focused for young readers.

Justice Sotomayor is known as the first Latina Supreme Court Justice, an extremely high honor. Along with her extensive duties as a Supreme Court Justice, Justice Sotomayor is a writer; writing books for people of all ages in both English and Spanish. At the question and answer session, she shared the importance of writing her books in both languages, claiming that, “I want to make my words available to you.”

While stressing the importance of her book being in two languages, she went on to also stress the importance of education and libraries. Libraries gave her the opportunity as a young girl to learn and borrow books, free of price. She also credited libraries for her education and love for reading, as books were a luxury to her when growing up.

Justice Sotomayor grew up in The Bronx, New York in a Puerto-Rican household. When she was nine years old, her father passed away due to health complications. She graduated from Princeton University and got her law degree from Yale Law School. She was an assistant district attorney in New York and then continued in private practice. President George H.W. Bush nominated her to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by President Bill Clinton. Finally, she was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama.

The event put on by the Ferguson Library was well attended and very impactful to all—helping to reinstate what a major influence Justice Sotomayor is and continues to be on the American people.