Sandra Day O’Connor student forum
Liz Kuhlmann
bvnwnews.com
BVNW AP Government and AP US History students took a field trip to listen to Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman Supreme Court Justice, give a student forum.
Over 1200 students from all over the Blue Valley area were given a once in a lifetime opportunity earlier today as they visited Yardley Hall to listen to former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor speak in a forum about her experience as the first woman to serve on the court, and about law and federalism in general.
Government teacher Ken Thomas said he wanted to accomplish two things with the presentation. The first item on his list was stressing the importance of civil education, and Thomas believes O’Connor did this well in her speech. The second objective was to emphasize how wonderful a story O’Connor has.
“Her story demonstrates that hard work and perseverance can overcome so many obstacles,” Thomas said. “The fact that she graduated at the top of her class from Stanford University. She applied to 40 law firms, and they straight up turned her down and said they wouldn’t hire her because they didn’t hire women … Here is a person who is so far ahead of her time, the criticism that was reaped upon her when she was nominated. She made a point of saying that you shouldn’t not do something just because you’re the first. She did a really great job of saying it’s OK to be first. It was just a really powerful message that she gave.”