CNN Anchor Soledad O'Brien at College of St. Elizabeth

CNN news anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien spoke to students and the public at the College of Saint Elizabeth on March 2, 2011. She spoke as the keynote speaker for the annual CSE Study Day in the afternoon and again for a general audience at night.

According to the CSE news site,

"Soledad O’Brien kept her audience riveted with stories of the experiences that formed her and her work.

As a reporter, O’Brien is known for her compassion for the people whose stories she tells. In her speech, she stressed the need for everyone’s story to be told, regardless of race, sex, or ethnicity. “By focusing on diversity and unheard voices, you wind up telling everyone’s story,” she said. Using some of her biggest reporting moments as examples, she told her audiences of how American opportunity, optimism, and generosity thrive in the face of enormous tragedy."

Breakout sessions preceded O’Brien’s afternoon appearance as part of the CSE Study Day activities. Students, faculty, and staff chose from one of five subjects that fell under the themes: Be the Change, Save A Life, A World Health Initiative of ABC. The sessions’ topics were culled from issues facing countries around the globe: HIV/AIDS in South Africa; Infant Mortality in India; Nutrition in Guatemala; Water in Bangladesh/Africa; and Nutrition in Africa.

Soledad is the author most recently of The Next Big Story: My Journey Through the Land of Possibilities.  Her book chronicles her beginnings as a mixed-race child growing up in suburban Long Island, N.Y., and explains how those experiences have influenced her approach to her work. Using some of her biggest reporting moments as examples, she tells stories of how American opportunity, optimism, and generosity thrive in the face of enormous tragedy.

She writes, “Bad things happen until good people get in the way. I learn this life lesson…almost everywhere I go in pursuit of the next big story. People have an incredible potential to do good and make good and seize good from bad if they will only make the choice to do it.”