John Quinones speaking to BGSU students on Wednesday

Mr. Quinones delivered an exceptional message to the Bowling Green State university audience this past Thursday.

John Quinones related his speech to the works of Martin Luther King Jr, “What would you do when you are witnessing justice” said Quinones speaking to the BGSU audience.  Mr. Quinones delivered the message of stepping up and doing the right thing when something is noticeably wrong and you are put into a situation in which helping could cause conflict.  “Take advantage of every opportunity that you have” Quinones stated “No matter how tough things get, keep you eyes on the prize and you will get there.”  Quinones motivated the group of college students in front of him by using powerful quotes like this to show them that anything is possible if you keep pushing and keep your heart set on your goals.  Mr. Quinones stressed morals such as doing the right thing and the fact that you really never know who is watching.  The overall message related to Martin Luther King and the ways he impacted society even when times seemed extremely tough, and almost impossible.

Mr. Quinones discussed how he grew up into poverty and kept pushing through even when his ethnicity pushed him away from his dream of being a journalist.   Starting at the very bottom, he was able to overcome the racial barrier at the time and achieve his dream of being a nationally recognized journalist.   Mr. Quinones preached the ideals that Mr. King would like to have heard.  He stressed the fact that the ethic and racial barrier can prevent a person from trying to achieve their dreams and he explained how he was able to push through it to become such a fantastic journalist.

Overall Mr. Quinones spoke with great passion about his profession and was extremely well received by the BGSU audience.  He inspired and informed his audience by telling about his own personal journey and his past life experiences. Mr. Quinones is a real life example of how hard work truly pays off and no matter how hard something is to get it is always achievable.

Following the highly anticipated speech of the legendary journalist, a question-and-answer session was held on Thursday morning Jan. 30 in Olscamp Hall to further persuade students and listeners on how to follow their dreams. During the session, Quinones hinted that there are “very few positive stories about the Latino community.” With that said, many Latinos in the audience related to this by asking questions on how to succeed underneath the negative impression that they tend to give the media.

Because of these concerns, Quinones communicated several positive messages that were aimed at giving hope not just to the Latino population, but to the entire audience in general.

One way that Quinones encouraged listeners was to have them realize that their unique talents and traits can help to make a difference, regardless of color, race, ethnicity, etc.

“Our unique backgrounds can get us to places where no one else is going,” Quinones said.

Along with embracing one’s talent, Quinones advised the audience to use the “burning in their belly” as a tool for success.

“It’s hard to motivate someone who does not believe it in his heart,” said Quinones. “What is it that will motivate you to make a difference?”

While some forms of media such as the evening news have declined because of an increase in sources, Quinones indicated that this does not mean journalism as a whole is dying. On that note, Quinones urged journalists not to feel discouraged by these economic matters in the light of their own success.

Yes, with receiving news, “we don’t have to wait until 6:30 and viewership has gone down,” as Quinones said. However, Quinones still basically stressed the fact that society needs to be informed and that “we should give viewers what they need.”

In fact, Quinones’ affiliated network, 20/20 still generates 5-7 million viewers each night!

“There will always be a need for people to tell stories,” said Quinones.

What is next for Quinones in the future? Quinones announced that 20/20 is currently filming between two and three episodes each week for a new season of What Would You Do. May 23 was mentioned for an upcoming release date of the new episodes.


Childhood

John Quinones was born into poverty in San Antonio, Texas in 1952. His mother worked cleaning houses in the suburban area of San Antonio and his father was a janitor. Neither one of his parents spoke English. Quinones’ father couldn’t read or write. He grew up at the time of the Civil Rights Movement. When he went to school, there were no classes on how to speak English. This was tough for Quinones because he only spoke Spanish. If he spoke in Spanish he would get in trouble. Even in junior high if he spoke Spanish, the coach would paddle him. In elementary the teacher his name from Juan to John because she said it sounded better.

 

Education

Quinones received a bachelor of arts in speech communications from St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas. He received a master’s from the Columbia School of Journalism

 

Career

  • Quinones has won seven national Emmy Awards for his “Primetime Live,” “Burning Questions” and “20/20” work
  • Was awarded an Emmy for his coverage of the Congo’s virgin rainforest (also won the Ark Trust Wildlife Award)
  • Received an Emmy for “Window in the Past,” a look at the Yanomamo Indians in 1990
  • National Emmy Award for his work on the ABC documentary “Burning Questions—The Poisoning of America
  • Honored with a World Hunger Media Award and a Citation from the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards for “To Save the Children
  • 1990 report on the homeless children of Bogota. Among his other prestigious awards are the First Prize in International Reporting and Robert F. Kennedy Prize for his piece on “Modern Slavery — Children Sugar Cane Cutters in the Dominican Republic.”
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What Would John Do?: A Story of Perseverence

ABC reporter John Quiñones speaks in the Grand Ballroom at BGSU. Photo by Marissa Barenbrugge.

John Quiñones: What Would YOU Do? A 20/20 Vision of America was one of the events that took place during Bowling Green State University’s Black History Month celebration. He spoke on Jan. 29, at 7:00 p.m. in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Grand Ballroom to a crowd including students, faculty and people from across the Northwest.

 

“Now available at Walgreens” were the first words John Quiñones ever spoke on the radio. Quinones’ journey to achieving his dream, becoming a journalist, had no shortage of obstacles.

Quinones also discussed his first job at a Country radio station and his current success with his show “What Would You Do?” Quiñones shared some advice on the power of perseverance with BGSU students and shared stories of his own experience with discrimination. This event was preceded by questions from the audience and a signing of his new novel, Heroes Among Us: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Choices.

Barbara Waddell, chief equity and diversity officer and title nine coordinater, estimated that there were over 1,000 people in attendance. There was also a live stream of the event broadcast to BGSU’s Fireland campus.

Waddell, a member of the team who coordinated the event, discovered Quiñones at a conference at which he was a keynote speaker. She was inspired by his story and  hoped that bringing him to campus would not only impact the BGSU community in a positive way, but also in hopes of getting the audience to talk about the events and connect with one and other.

“So often we think something, but we don’t say it” Waddell said.

What Would YOU Do? A 20/20 Vision of America cost $15,000 and was fully funded by the university.

“He was so gracious about making it affordable” Waddell said.

Quiñones answers students questions about journalism and his career.

Impactful words from “John Quinones: What Would YOU Do? A 20/20 Vision of America”:

“No matter how tough things get for you, if you keep your eyes on the prize, you will get there”

“Don’t listen to the negative messages that we so often get from society”

“Go with your passion”

“You cannot dwell on the negative. When you fall down, look at all of the blessings that you have”

“Imagine journalism as a dark room and journalists are the ones who hold the light to shine on the darkest stories”

Audience Reaction

Interviewed: Tatenda Mandizha

1. Before listening to John Quiñones, what did you think he was going to speak about?

I thought that he was going to talk about his TV show and give us scenarios and ask us how we would react.

2. What stood out to you the most about the speech?

How he talked about his family, the journey that he went through to get to where he is in his career and the danger that he went through to get the story.

3. John Quiñones said some inspirational things. What was your favorite thing that he said?

Don’t be so concerned about the movers and shakers; be concerned about the moved and shaken.

What Would You Do?

This clip from the hit Primetime series depicts a scene of racism in a Harlem barber shop.

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John Quiñones Reporting Team 1

Quiñones Inspires Staff and Students 

John Quiñones speaks to the audience at Bowling Green State University about Martin Luther King Jr.

On Wednesday Jan. 29 award winning journalist and host of ABC’s hit show “What would you do?”,  John Quinones spoke to a crowd of students and faculty in honor of the legacy left by Martin Luther King Jr.  The speech took place in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Lenhart Grand Ballroom. Quiñones spoke for almost an hour, after which he fielded questions from students and faculty members. Providing advice and words of encouragement to young, aspiring journalists, detailed accounts of his experiences in the field, and speaking quite candidly about his youth and some of the adversity he faced because he is Latino. Quiñones signed books for audience members as well. Thursday morning Jan 30, Quiñones also held a separate but intimate Q-and-A where he answered more questions from students and faculty.

ABC’s “What Would You Do?” depicts potential dangers lurking during spring break for college students.

Questionnaire from \”What Would You Do?\”

Quiñones on Perseverance and Coping with Racial Adversity 

During the January 29 visit from the guest speaker, John Quiñones, there was a time made available after his speech for audience members to ask questions. Our group was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to ask a couple of questions.

The first question asked to Mr. Quiñones was “Has there ever been a time in your career that you feel you took the job a bit too far?” He then told us about a story he and his team attempted to cover in the southern region of North America in 1989. There had been an upheaval of one of the governments and the boarders had been closed to the all outside journalists. Quiñones and his team believed that they would be able to slip through the boarder to cover the event. The team had decided not to enter the country unless all four members agreed, which they did.

The team was able to basically lie and fake their way into the country without using their visas. When they got into the country, they found a hotel and hid inside. The ruler of the country, however, had discovered that multiple reporters from different countries had invaded the boarders and decided to take action. The ruler invaded the hotel and had 40 journalists taken hostage. One of the 40 journalists taken hostage was a producer from John Quiñones’ team.

Although all of the hostages were released about 36 hours later, the experience was bad enough that Mr. Quiñones felt that he had gone too far for the story. Luckily, none of the journalists were harmed while they were kept hostage.

Involvement with “What Would You Do?”

After the speech, listeners could purchase his book for autographs.

Another question asked by our team to Mr. Quiñones was “Which episode of ‘What Would You Do?’ had the greatest influence upon you personally?” Mr. Quiñones described an episode based on a law that had recently passed in Arizona stating that Mexican citizens found in the U.S. without proper paperwork could be deported immediately. The scene that they set was in a restaurant in Arizona; a man was attempting to call the police on Mexican citizen. Mr. Quiñones even disguised himself and played the part of the Mexican citizen that was being persecuted. It was surprising to him, despite the fact that they were filming in the state that had recently passed the law that so many people jumped to his defense to keep the other actor from dragging the Mr. Quiñones off to the authorities.

Q&A

Quiñones answers the audience's questions.

Thursday morning John Quiñones hosted a Q&A event open to students and the public. The attendance for this event was smaller than that of the speech Wednesday evening, creating an intimate event where many students stood up to ask Quiñones questions about his career, tips for potential journalists, insights into the changing industry, and many other topics. Early on, he recited a quote he heard from someone early on in his career:

“Don’t talk to the movers and shakers, talk to the moved and the shaken.”

Through the answers Quiñones provided during this Q&A, it was made clear that he has taken that advice to heart throughout his carer. He discussed how each one of us can use our unique backgrounds to our advantage in reporting— such as when he was sent to cover the 2010 Chilean miners’ rescue: being bilingual in Spanish and English allowed him to speak with the miners first, while the other American reporters were left in the cold. He discussed the need for potential journalists to have “A burning desire to illuminate and change the world” and stressed the need to make connections with those who had suffered. He spoke of how he has covered the plight of Latin American immigrants to America and the problems they have, many of which he shared a similar upbringing. He also spoke about the state of the industry and urged potential journalists not to be discouraged by what people say: while news is being covered more and more in the digital world, sites such as Twitter allow news to be covered faster and from a variety of angles. Ultimately, the world will always need storytellers, he said.

One question asked to Mr. Quiñones about where he is now as a journalist and writer stood out from the rest.  The question, asked by an art major, was whether or not Mr. Quiñones has his eye on a certain prize and if he didn’t,  how does he view contentment.  Mr. Quiñones’ answer, in our opinion, was fantastic.

He started replying that every time he did a story, it brought him satisfaction.  Once Quiñones has completed a story, he begins to question certain aspects of it.

“I didn’t say enough,”

“It could have been better,”

“We should have had more time.”

These are all things that John Quiñones says to himself every time he watches one of his segments or shows.  Quiñones discusses his last story that gave him great satisfaction and contentment, which was about dwarfs in Ecuador.  These dwarfs agreed to get studied because the gene that makes them ‘small’ is also a gene that prevents them from obtaining diabetes and cancer just so they could help out fellow humans.

The main contentment that Mr. Quiñones has is his 3 children, ages 28, 22, and 19, all of whom are involved in some form of media.  Quiñones praises his children and all of their abilities and goes on to say how great it is to have all of them in New York, where he also resides.

John Quiñones wraps up his answer by explaining that we should all use our hidden talents to tell a story.  He ends his answer saying, “Fight the good fight!”

In conclusion, John Quiñones was a motivating speaker and BGSU students were very lucky to have gotten the chance to learn from his experiences. It doesn’t matter if the person listening was majoring in journalism, nursing, education or bio engineering. If there is anything the people attending should take from the experience, he told everyone…

“No matter how tough things get for you, if you keep your eyes on the prize, you will get there.”

Quinones Twitter

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The Tale of Elizabeth Smart

The photos explain the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart. The quotes are from the speech.

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Two related news links

http://www.bgnews.com/campus/kidnapping-victim-visits-university-shares-inspirational-message/article_8f31fb9c-46a8-11e3-973c-001a4bcf887a.html

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E0D81E30F93BA35754C0A9679D8B63&ref=elizabethannsmart

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Elizabeth Smart Breaking news story

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Kidnap Survivor Recounts Story, Lends Advice to BGSU Students

To many, a happy ending evokes images of a fairytale wedding, big smiles and ultimate success and peace. However, young woman had brave a dangerous and unusual storm to arrive at her happy ending.

Elizabeth Smart made an appearance at Bowling Green State University Nov. 5. Smart made headlines back in 2002 when she was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City, Utah, home and held captive for nine months. http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/04/cnn25.smart.tan/index.html?iref=allsearch

During Smart’s speech to the students, she described how at the age of 14 she was taken from the bedroom that she shared with her younger sister at knifepoint that and taken to a tent, where she was sexually and mentally tortured for nine months before she was rescued and reunited with her family. She describes both of her captors with an eerie calm.

“When I arrived at the makeshift camp, a woman with long gray hair and a long robe appeared. She wasn’t normal,” Smart said. “She hugged me, and if hugs could speak, hers said that if you make one wrong move or I don’t like something you do, then I will kill you.”

Smart then thought about what her mother has told her over the years, and that is when Smart said. Made the most important decision in her entire nine months of captivity.

“I decided that no matter what I had to do, I had to do whatever it took to survive,” Smart said  “That decision saw me through a lot of pain I was feeling.”

With that, she manipulated and fought through and was finally reunited home with her family (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/13/us/utah-girl-15-is-found-alive-9-months-after-kidnapping.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm)

Upon returning home, she said she was filled with peace. “This has to be heaven, being surrounded by the people who love you the very most and knowing that nobody could hurt you now. This has to be what heaven is like,” Smart said.

Smart has written a book about her experiences titled “My Story,” and is working to prevent future crimes against children. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/elizabeth-smart-opens-kidnapping-chances-escape-article-1.1478630

“I’ve come to a point in my life where I’m not sorry that I was kidnapped, and I don’t feel sorry for myself because of what I’ve been allowed to do, people I’ve met and worked alongside, change I’ve been able to see, everything,” Smart said. “I have so much to be grateful for and going back and telling my story and writing my book, this has gone to further show me how much I have to be grateful for. My outcome is a happy ending.”

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Elizabeth Smart Shares Her Story of Survival

Smart's memoir was released on Oct. 7 and was available for purchase following her afternoon speech at BGSU.

“I’ve come to realize, well, we all have problems. That might be the only thing that every single one of us has in common.” These words were spoken by an ordinary girl with an extraordinary story.

Smart was the first speaker in the Bowling Green State University series titled “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Stories.” She spoke on Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m. to over 500 students and faculty members.

Elizabeth Smart was just 14 when she was abducted from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah. With a knife to her throat, Smart was forced to leave her home and walk a trail that was very familiar to her, but an unexpected turn led her to where her kidnappers held her captive for nine months.

Against her will, she was forced to drink alcohol, become a bride in an unusual marriage ceremony and was repeatedly raped.

Despite the sensitivity of the topic she spoke about, Smart was encouraging. She joked about the tough love she received from her four brothers and the fact that at 14 she had not even said hi to a boy.

Throughout the speech, Smart made several references to the relationship that she has with God and how her faith led her though her abduction. Despite the religious manipulation from her abductors, her faith in God still remains.

At the end of Smart’s speech, Sara Bushong, dean of the Universities Libraries, asked the question, “If someone were to find

Q&A with Dean of the University Libraries, Sara Bushong

themselves in a situation similar to yours what advice would you give them?” Smart responded, “Every situation has to be judged uniquely. Over 80 percent of women and children… the people who fight back get away. If you feel like kicking, screaming, or yelling, do it!”

In an effort to advocate for others who have been in similar situations, Smart created a foundation in 2011. The Elizabeth Smart Foundation was formed to prevent future crimes against children. Aside from creating a foundation, Smart has documented her experinces in a memoir titled “My Story.”

BG24 News Coverage of Smart
After her evening speech, Smart conducted a Q&A session with local residents. 

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Timeline of events in the life of Elizabeth Smart

  • Ÿ  June 5, 2002 – Elizabeth Smart is abducted from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah.
  • Ÿ  March 12, 2003 – Smart is found alive in Sandy, Utah.
  • Ÿ  March 18, 2003 – Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee are charged with aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault, and burglary.
  • Ÿ  April 30, 2003 – Smart makes her first public appearance after her return.
  • Ÿ  October 27, 2003 – Dateline NBC interview with Smart and her parents.
  • Ÿ  November 9, 2003 – Movie adaptation of her kidnapping, The Elizabeth Smart Story airs.
  • Ÿ  March 8, 2006 – Smart goes to Congress to support sexual predator legislation and the AMBER alert system.
  • Ÿ  May 2008 – Smart, along with the DOJ, present You’re Not Alone in Washington, D.C.
  • Ÿ  November 17, 2008 – People magazine does a feature on Smart as one of their heroes of the year.
  • Ÿ  October 27, 2009 – Smart speaks at the 2009 Women’s Conference in California.
  • Ÿ  November 17, 2009 – Barzee sentenced to 15 years for her role in Smart’s kidnapping.
  • Ÿ  2011 – The Elizabeth Smart Foundation is created.
  • Ÿ  March 2011 – Smart is awarded the Diane von Furstenberg Award.
  • Ÿ  May 25, 2011 – Mitchell sentenced to life in federal prison.
  • Ÿ  July 7, 2011 – Smart becomes a commentator for ABC News.
  • Ÿ  January 2012 – Smart becomes engaged to Matthew Gilmour.
  • Ÿ  February 18, 2012 – Smart and Gilmour marry.
  • Ÿ  October 7, 2013 – Smart publishes her book, “My Story”.

 

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Elizabeth Smart audience member interview

Elizabeth Smart interview

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