6 Pieces Of Advice From Sonia Sotomayor's Commencement Speech [VIDEO]

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor joined the list of amazing-commencement-speech-givers (which includes Lin-Manuel Miranda and Rita Moreno, amonst many others) this season, and gave the undergraduates of the University of Rhode Island a lot of great advice.

Sotomayor, who’s been serving since 2009 talked to the students about life, the moments they’ll best remember, and they ones they need to hold on to. The Judge is a great choice for the speech as she is a Princeton and Yale graduate, who eventually went on to become the first Latina justice on the nation’s highest court.

Here are 6 pieces of advice we took away from her inspiring words:

1. Graduating marks a beginning: “Today is a beginning, not just an ending, and the experiences and memories you have created of the last few years will be of service to you long after you leave here.”
2. Serve others: "Always remember you have an obligation to help others gain the same joys and face the same challenges that you did."
3. Dream on: As the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, she grew up in a South Bronx housing project, where she dreamed of going to college, becoming a lawyer, and "if life was really good" to her, she would get to become a judge. Look at her now.
4. Never forget your origins: “As caterpillars return to their roosting places as butterflies, it will always be important to remember where you came from and who raised you.”
5. Work hard and be prepared: Sotomayor told students an anecdote of her showing up to a major job interview and blowing it by failing to answer a simple question. “Confidence alone doesn’t translate into preparation.”
6. Hold on to the disappointing moments, too: “The ‘uh-oh’ moments are worth cherishing just as much as ‘ah-ha’ moments: Mistakes, failures, embarrassments and disappointments are a necessary component of growing wise,” she said. “We can learn more from our not-so-good experiences than we can learn from our good ones.”