We are closing out another year, which means reflecting on the achievements, challenges, and new beginnings that we experienced over the past 12 months. Throughout 2024, we shared our community’s inspiring stories in blogs featuring an alum and student each month.
Our UAGC alumni and students motivate their peers, colleagues, and communities with their ambition, hope, and resilience. Every story has made an impact, and we are continuously inspired by all they have achieved in college, work, and at home. As tradition, we asked UAGC faculty and staff to vote for one alum and student from this year’s featured honorees to be named as 2024 UAGC Student and Alum of the Year.
Difficult as it may be to choose – it was a very close race – we have tallied the votes, and there are two clear winners.
We are pleased to reintroduce you to Alexis Salisbury and Darius Humphries, two outstanding members of our community, as our 2024 UAGC Alum and Student of the Year.
Continue reading to catch up on their stories, and join us as we recognize this year’s winners.
2024 Alum of the Year: Alexis Salisbury
During her program at UAGC, she often focused her assignments on PTSD to help her understand how the brain reacts to trauma. This gave her the knowledge to better understand the trauma she’s been processing for the last seven years and learn how she can help other survivors in the future.
In 2017, while on a break from attending college at another institution, Alexis Salisbury made a stop at the public library in her family’s hometown of Clovis, New Mexico, after picking up her younger brother from school. She was printing papers she needed for college as her brother waited when a 16-year-old high school student walked into the library and started shooting. They laid on the ground, pretending to be dead, until the police arrived, and the shooter surrendered. It wasn’t until then that they both realized they had been shot. Alexis’ brother was shot in the hand, and she was shot once over the heart and once in each leg.
Today, she still can’t stand or walk for long periods, and she hasn’t run since before the shooting. The physical, mental, and emotional recovery is ongoing, but Alexis’ trauma doctors nicknamed her Wonder Woman for a reason. In June 2024, she walked the commencement stage after completing her Master of Arts in Psychology at UAGC.
With the extra time back in her day since finishing schoolwork, she has been rebuilding her strength and endurance to begin doing something she once loved: running.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had this much time to focus on myself,” Alexis shares. “So that’s a personal milestone I want to do. It’s good to rest, but I’m always thinking ‘What’s next?’”
Mac ’n cheese, apparently. Alexis and her husband are zeroing in on a business goal together and opening a Roni’s Mac Bar franchise location in Albuquerque. She plans to contribute part-time while she continues to work as an anti-money laundering analyst at USAA, which she joined just weeks after the shooting.
It was through a partnership USAA has with UAGC that she pursued her master’s degree. Although her degree is in psychology, the knowledge she gained about human behavior, and the analytical thinking skills she used, translated to her work looking at financial transactions and understanding motivations. Now, she’s looking into additional certifications for her job and new volunteer opportunities outside of work.
“I enjoy my job so much and like my environment because my home is my safe space after everything I went through, but I’m still really passionate about helping people,” Alexis says. “My dream in the future is to help other survivors of trauma, more specifically gun violence, and if I can save somebody else just a little bit of time of feeling as awful as I felt, that’d be a game changer for me, because it’s really, really hard.”
She has been involved in groups and is an advocate on social media. However, she hopes to find or create a dedicated space where she feels she can advocate for others suffering from mental health obstacles using the education she received and through her lived experiences. Her ability to empathize comes from a journey of healing that is lifelong, but Alexis says she has improved a lot and wants to help others know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Being named UAGC 2024 Alum of the Year is another reminder that her efforts are worth it, and it feels like validation that she’s doing the best she can. She also feels proud that she was brave enough to share her story.
“I’ve always wanted to set an example, and this is more proof that I’m not just talking. We’re not limited, and we can do hard things,” she adds.
Read Alexis’ full story.
2024 Student of the Year: Darius Humphries
Darius Humphries, our 2024 Student of the Year, says it best; he has been doing constant work –constant, holistic work.
“Life is about others,” he explains, “because at this point … it’s not about me.”
As the Chief Operating Officer of a nonprofit that services adults with disabilities as well as an admissions specialist at a behavioral health hospital, he continues to advocate for mental health and disability rights in his community for the people he serves. Recently, that work led to a local business modifying their wheelchair accessibility to allow better access for one of their favorite patrons. It was a proud milestone for the people he cares for, and his studies at UAGC continue to inspire similar achievements.
With Darius at the helm of the initiative, his company instituted a recovery-friendly workplace model, making it an official second chance opportunity employer.
“We’re able to offer people jobs and not close them out because they have a history of substance abuse or criminal background, so that was something big that I took from what I’m learning at UAGC and have been able to implement in my organization,” he explains.
Upon completion of his PhD in Organizational Development and Leadership at UAGC, Darius wants to be able to speak not only as a scholar but also as a practitioner of his area of expertise. In addition to what he has implemented at work, he has created an LLC that was converted into a nonprofit called, I Am for Achievement. Geared toward at-risk youth and individuals with developmental disabilities, it focuses on early intervention, education, mentorship, and sustainable change.
“There are a lot of social issues that are disruptive to our youth, and we have to create a positive outlook and provide some type of leadership and guidance for them to be excited about,” he says. “That’s going to continue to be the next step. To continue to grow, learn, educate, and then reapply to give back. Leadership is for everyone.”
Part of Darius’ passion for giving back comes from personal experience. Growing up, Darius moved around frequently with his mother. He spent time in homeless shelters and low-income housing for large parts of his childhood, living with his siblings while his mother did what she could to provide for them. He remembers his mom living a rough life, and at the age of 12, he found out she was killed. He and his siblings were left with their stepfather for a short time until they were taken into custody at a juvenile youth facility, where he was then separated from his brothers and sisters, who went into different foster homes.
Darius attended “the worst high school in America” according to American Broadcaster Diane Sawyer, but his one goal was to get to college. Now he visits his alma mater, Kutztown University, as a guest speaker to talk to disabled students through one of their programs. His education at UAGC has also opened new doors, including a recent promotion at work and opportunities to obtain certifications and attend conferences to elevate his career.
Now receiving the 2024 Student of the Year award, he feels overwhelmed by the journey of his life.
“I’m grateful, and I’m appreciative to God,” he says. “It gives me motivation to keep going. I would never in a million years think I’d be in a PhD program, much less being acknowledged for student of the month or student of the year. That’s a 180 from my life, from what it was to what it is now.”
His faith is an anchor for him, and he writes his prayers every day like a strategic plan with checkboxes. His list includes continuing to help others, providing resources, and being a beacon of support. He says that is the mission.
“Thinking about it is the way you can get there,” Darius concludes. “If you don’t dream, how can you picture it? How can you begin to start thinking and planning about how to execute if you’re not dreaming?”
Read Darius’ full story.
Looking Ahead
Alexis and Darius embody humility and gratitude and find motivation in the reminder that life can be delicate. They lead by example, finding strength in vulnerability, and empowering those around them to go after opportunities and continue looking ahead.
Could you be the next UAGC Alum or Student of the Year?
If you are like Alexis or Darius and have a unique story, email us at [email protected] for a chance to be featured as an Alum or Student of the Month in 2025!
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Student success stories should not be interpreted as a promise or guarantee of career advancement or future earnings. The stories shared here represent the outcomes of individual students for illustrative purposes only.
Degree programs at UAGC are not designed to meet the state educational requirements for a specific professional license or certification in any state.