John Quiñones met with WCU students after his talk during the Chancellor’s list even in the Bardo Center on Sept. 11, 2019. Photo by Stephan Haggy.
Veteran ABC reporter and host of the show “What Would You Do,” John Quiñones talked about poverty, opportunities and importance of journalism to students, their families and the wider WCU community in Bardo Arts center during the Chancellor’s list event on Sept. 10.
A total of 1,681 WCU students were name to the chancellor’s list last spring. Quiñones congratulated the students on their accomplishments identifying them as a group who knows “of perseverance dedication and hard work.”
Quiñones opened his speech by telling his life story.
Growing up in a Mexican-American neighborhood in West San Antonio, he began working hard young. At 13, his dad was laid off and his family became migrant farmers, traveling to Michigan then Ohio picking crops.
“We learned the value of the family coming together in times of difficulty,” Quiñones said.
He recalled a moment when while staring off into the endless rows of tomatoes to be picked, his dad asked him, “you want to do this kind of work for the rest of your life, or do you want a college education someday?” The answer was obvious. Once Quiñones returned to school, he looked for support academically to eventually pursue a job in broadcast, but was told by teachers, “we think you should try wood shop or metal shop,” because of his ethnicity and way he spoke.
Ignoring his teachers, Quiñones worked on his accent by joining the drama club, which help with pronunciation and brought him out of his comfort zone. It was not long before Quiñones found the support he needed to succeed.
His first hero, after his parents, was his 10th grade English teacher, who loved his writing and encouraged him to join the school’s newspaper, at which he excelled. His second hero was Upward Bound, which he described as “basically the federal government knew the schools were doing a terrible job preparing students for college, so the government stepped in.” He took extra courses on Saturdays and over the summer on a college campus.
“Today some people call Upward Bound welfare, a government handout. To me, to me it was a lifesaver.”
Upward Bound is a federally funded, pre-college program that provides extra classes in various subjects to low-income families. The goal of the program is to increase college and graduate school attendance and is in operation to this day.
While in college, a boss heard him working on his accent in the restroom. Seeing his dedication, he told him, “I know the general manager of a radio station in San Antonio and they’re looking for interns.” He jumped on the opportunity for an internship, which led to jobs in a larger radio stations who help throughout his college.
Quiñones encouraged WCU students to do the same.
“You get your foot in the door and you get to find if you like it or not.”
Another important lesson Quiñones passed to students – you must advocate for yourself, which he did to attend Columbia University, New York, with no money to pay tuition.
“I went and knocked on every financial aid door at Colombia University. But the knocks paid off with a full fellowship from NBC that paid for his master’s degree.
After school, he got a job as a local television reporter in Chicago, and quickly convinced his news director to let him do a story posing as a Mexican trying to get into the U.S. With the help of a Coyote, he floated across the Rio Grande on an innertube with his fake social security card and birth certificate. Upon arriving to Chicago, he was hired at a restaurant that had seven undocumented workers that hadn’t been paid in 17 weeks. When they asked for their money the owner said, “you get to sleep here, you get to eat all the food you want, if you keep complaining I will call immigration, and have you deported.” A threat that is still made elsewhere in this country today.
After the story aired, the restaurant was shut down, the owner arrested, and the undocumented workers received backpay and visas. He knew, “those are the kinds of stories that I, as a Hispanic reporter, could tell better than anyone, because of where I come from.”
Quiñones explained his idea of a journalism as a candle in a dark room.
“The journalist is the person with the candle, and they can shine it on the darkest corners of the room to illuminate injustice, racism, discrimination, human rights and civil rights violations. When journalism is done right, those are the kinds of stories we should be telling.”
Quiñones was hired by ABC in New York to cover Central America, where he gave a voice to regular people in hostile situation. He showed how being vulnerable and persistent creates opportunities. He created “What Would You Do,” a hidden camera show, that focuses on social issues that, “also reminds us there is a lot of good out there.” He showed a clip, from the show, of a Hispanic mother and daughter in a restaurant, with the daughter translating the menu for her mother, they are verbally harassed by a stranger. Multiple times people around come to their defense.
“As a Hispanic [it’s an] emotional story, inspiring,” said Maria Alvarado, a WCU student. Alvalrado was touched when “they showed the mother struggle speaking English.”
Recognizing the importance of representation, another WCU student, Joslyn Stinson, said: “liked a colored person’s perspective brought into a white institution,” and was, “thankful for the unique perspective.”
Students appreciated Quiñones remaining political, a WCU senior, Joseph Helton, found the “story relevant for country today,” and appreciated his, “own flavor,” in his storytelling. Students left with inspiration to pursue their dreams and instruction to listen to the voice in the back of their head that’s pointing them to do good.
Quiñones’ visit was organized by the Office of Student Transitions.
Their next event will be One Book Author Celeste Headlee in the UC Grandroom on Oct. 28.
