Grand welcome

Author engages young minds as Green River College opens fall classes

For the Reporter

Green River College President Suzanne M. Johnson, right, and keynote speaker and author C. Nicole Mason take a selfie during opening day ceremonies on Sept. 18. Faculty and staff packed the Mel Lindbloom Student Union Building’s Grand Hall for the kickoff event on the Auburn campus.

The day featured Mason, who addressed equity and student centered learning environments with staff and students. Mason shared her story, detailed in her book, “Born Bright: A Young Girl’s Journey from Nothing to Something in America,” a powerful memoir of her experiences with hunger, poverty and homelessness.

Mason, executive director of the Center for Research and Policy in the Public Interest, a Manhattan, N.Y.,-based women’s foundation, approaches the topic of poverty in America from an insider’s perspective. In her book, Mason takes readers from her childhood in California to her acceptance at Howard University, chronicling her struggle to break through the boundaries and limitations of growing up poor.