Aside from having unforgettable girl nights with her fellow Belles at Saint Mary’s, Breyona Gray strives to refine the health of the population. 

Changing the Healthcare System 

As a young woman in Social Work and throughout her college career, Breyona has found an interest in the health care system. Consistently learning and understanding the health disparities that exist within our society has inspired Breyona to reduce these disparities by working with clinics and hospitals in the near future. 

“After Saint Mary’s, I plan to attend graduate school for social work so I can expand my knowledge about how to reduce health disparities and help identify effective ways to develop equal health care access.” 

Working with Professors

Saint Mary’s has given Breyona the opportunity to cultivate close knit relationships with her professors and could not imagine her college experience any other way. The ability for her to have one on one conversations with her professors sparks a new found confidence in herself. 

“Since the social work department is so small, working closely with professors has allowed me to develop more confidence within myself and what I strive to do in the future. They encourage me to go to graduate school because they know I have a lot I can contribute to the field of social work.” 

As a first generation student, her professors have not only contributed to her confidence but have also helped Breyona decrease her self doubt to generate monumental differences in the future. 

Helping to Reorganize Courses

During her college career, Breyona was the recipient of the Katherine T. Dooley Social Justice Fellowship which provided her the chance to collaborate with other students to revamp the Diversity Dialogues course. 

“The Diversity Dialogues course was very outdated. I was so excited to have the opportunity to work with other students to improve the course. We discussed changes regarding specific topics we wanted to include, refining the material, finding speakers, and more. We were group facilitators when the course was introduced the following semester.” 

Breyona really loved the way her and other students were able to select which topics to include in the course because it allowed them to highlight social issues that needed to be learned by other students.