SAN ANTONIO – U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor paid a visit to UTSA on Thursday to participate in a one-hour Q&A session with students.
Sotomayor received a long, standing ovation from the capacity crowd in the auditorium.
During the Q&A session, Sotomayor answered questions regarding her personal journey, including her rise through the ranks of the judiciary system to the nation's highest court.
Some of her answers had some people in the audience crying.
Sotomayor said that her greatest influence was her mother, and she grew up with a father who was an alcoholic. She also shared her story about living with diabetes.
She said her favorite part of college was taking true advantage of learning opportunities around her.
Sotomayor was asked what advice she had for college students.
"Yes, I know it's hard. I've lived that hardness, but it's worth the effort," she said. "The outcome is always worth the effort. You don't have to be a Supreme Court justice to be successful. You just have to take a step every day that makes you better than where you started."
Sotomayor shook almost every hand in the auditorium and she visited with the big overflow room full of students and staff who weren't able to sit in the main auditorium.
She planned to visit the downtown campus as well.
Sotomayor is the Supreme Court's third female justice and the first justice of Hispanic heritage.
She was a first-generation college student when she graduated from Princeton University with her Bachelor of Arts degree.