Celebrating First-Generation Mercy Graduate Alexus

Mercy congratulates recent graduate and Mercy Scholar Alexus Williams ’20 for being featured in Complete College America’s #20for20Grads campaign. Williams’ profile is one of 20 profiles highlighted of recent graduates from across the country with incredibly diverse backgrounds who have overcome challenges, flourished in their academic and professional development pursuits and obtained college degrees.

Complete College America is an organization dedicated to increasing college completion rates and closing equity gaps by working with states, systems, institutions and partners to scale effective structural reforms and drive policies that improve student success.

Williams, who received her bachelor’s degree in nursing, was the first member of her family to go to college and overcame the barriers to education that Complete College America aims to address. Her profile on the Complete College America’s website describes why getting a degree was important to her: “I knew that with a degree I would be able to make a difference in the world. Now I’m on the way to fulfilling my dream of becoming a nurse and helping those in need.”

Williams also mentions how she traversed other hurdles: “I joined different clubs and attended multiple events [at Mercy College] to form new friendships, and found that meeting other first-gen freshman allowed me to make the uncertainty of college a better reality.”

A Mercy Scholar, Williams was rewarded full tuition support for all four years of college. She received this accolade for demonstrating leadership and determination in high school and, as emphasized by Complete College America, built upon those same exemplary qualities while at Mercy.