Sotomayor attends Cardinal Spellman High School. The school is split down the middle, boys on one side, girls on the other. The two genders mix only in the lunchroom and in religion, Advanced Placement, and freshman Spanish. Students who speak Spanish at home are put in an accelerated class. The nun who teaches the class intends to move three times as fast as the regular Spanish class, but the students have not studied Spanish and do not know formal grammar. Sotomayor is one of the students enlisted to explain they need to go slower. The nun is “understanding and accommodating” and slows the pace (102). For Sotomayor, it is a “good lesson in the value of learning to express your basic needs and trusting you will be heard” (102).

Her geometry teacher—nicknamed Rigor Mortis because of his many years at the school—accuses Sotomayor of cheating after she achieves a perfect score on the New York State Regents exam. She had not, he tells her, scored perfectly on any practice tests. Sotomayor explains this is because he subtracted points for her process not her final result. He consults her practice tests, sees that she is correct, and changes her grade accordingly. She is “truly amazed” (103).