Meet our heroes

Our story is their story, and your story, too.

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The Art of Taking Little Steps

A consummate survivor, Mercedes Rain-Tree Adams has overcome tremendous obstacles to earn her degree—and develop a more positive outlook on the future.Adult learners stop out of school for many reasons. Sometimes, the financial burden of a college education becomes too much to bear. For others, the struggle to balance courses with work and family results in the hard choice to leave school. For Mercedes Rain-Tree Adams, family tragedy and the need to focus on her own mental health required a yearlong break from her studies at Old Dominion University. And even after returning to campus from her much-needed sabbatical, Mercedes

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Sonya

Sonya: Determined to Finish

With the help of her ReUp Success Coach, Sonya Williams completed the long and winding road to graduation and a career. Her next destination? A master’s.

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Leon

Spotlight: Leon

Student success story Leon J. shares how ReUp coaching and making life changes helped him recover from setbacks and get back on track with his college education. Tell us about your educational journey; where did it begin for you?  My educational journey began a year after I graduated high school. I wanted to take a year off to experience the world, which I am glad I did. Then, in 2015, I took a few college classes, all of which I completed, but after that, some real-life issues arose.  When did things start to become challenging? All of a sudden, life

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Adeline

Spotlight: Adeline

Adeline is working toward her dream of becoming a Criminal Defense advocate and creating a non-profit organization for long-term Inmates and is motivated by being a role model for her son. She currently lives in Wisconsin and has been working with her Success Coach since May 2020 Q. Tell us about your educational journey: Where did it begin for you? Why did you decide to go to college? I started at the University of Wisconsin – Parkside the fall semester after graduating high school. My original plan was to be a teacher, I majored in sociology and history.  After one

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Selena

Spotlight: Selena

Selena is working toward her dream of becoming a nurse and is motivated by being a role model for her son. She currently lives near Kalamazoo, MI and has been working with her Success Coach since December 2018. Q. Tell us about your educational journey: Where did it begin for you? Why did you decide to go to college? I graduated high school in 2013. I’ve always known college is important but I was always clueless on what I wanted to study or major in. I applied to KVCC that summer and I remember being super lost about the whole

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