Television news personality to speak in Eagle Pass

John Quiñones, a six-time national Emmy Award winner and co-anchor of ABC News’ Primetime Live, will speak on the “2020 Vision on Hispanic America” at the Eagle Pass International Center for Trade, 3295 Bob Rogers Drive, on Thursday, March 22, at 7 p.m. This event is open to the public. Quiñones was most recently a correspondent for Primetime Thursday and 20/20. He had previously been a correspondent for Primetime Live since November 1991. His most recent work includes a Primetime hidden camera report in which he went undercover to reveal how clinics were performing unnecessary surgical procedures as part of a major nationwide insurance scam. He also reported on such diverse topics as the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case, the plight of conjoined twins, the ongoing search for the notorious Zodiac killer, and would-be Mexican immigrants attempting to cross into the U.S. via the treacherous route known as “The Devil’s Highway.” Additionally, Quiñones traveled to Israel for a CINE Award-winning report about suicide bombers. Born in San Antonio, Texas, and routinely traveling up North to pick fruits and vegetables in the fields, it has been said that Quiñones remembers kneeling in the dew-mantled fields of Ohio at 5 a.m. and facing what looked like 10 miles of tomato plants. It was at this moment, at the age of 12, when he knew that he wanted to do something different with his life. “It was always my dream to go into broadcasting. I love telling stories. That’s what I do. I’m a storyteller.” The San Antonio boy stayed home to pursue his Bachelor of Arts in speech communications from St. Mary’s University. He then went on to earn his master’s degree from the Columbia School of Journalism. Mama sure did know best, as Quiñones recalls: “My mother taught us that no matter what side of the tracks we lived on, we could be a success at whatever we tackled. Because of that, I never thought that I wasn’t going to make it. Besides, real success has nothing to do with money or cars or houses. It comes from within.” For more information on Quiñones and this event, you can visit www.apbspeakers.com, or you can call SRSU-Rio Grande College’s news and media relations department at (830) 758-5012.