From the president
Xavier Mercado ‘24, a third-year student at Trinity College, is a student leader committed to addressing issues of equity and justice in education. Over the past three years, Xavier has worked on multiple community-based research projects with Hartford community partners at the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, Mutual Aid Hartford, and the CT Fair Housing Center, as well as youth tutoring and mentoring programs with the Legacy Foundation of Hartford and Breakthrough Collaborative in Denver. Xavier has also demonstrated exceptional leadership on campus as the co-president of the Men of Color Alliance and the Brotherhood Initiative and as a formal and informal mentor to Community Action-focused students at Trinity. Across these roles, Xavier has demonstrated a strong commitment to carving educational and leadership pathways for students in Hartford and at Trinity and plans to take these experiences into his future career as an English Language Arts teacher in Chicago, his home city.
Personal Statement
Serving my community has been key to me becoming a better leader and peer. Through my experiences, I have been able to build upon my leadership skills in order to continuously make an impact on the communities that I am part of. Since 2021, I’ve served as one of the Co-Presidents for the Men of Color Alliance, which has given me the opportunity to lead young men of color to make impactful change on campus, while also giving us the chance to serve within our off-campus community. Additionally, I have continued to grow even more passionate about community work through integrating myself into the field of education. Over the course of the past two summers, I have served as a Teaching Fellow for Breakthrough Collaborative, allowing me to be part of an inclusive community that will assist me in my journey of becoming the best educator possible post-graduation. With these experiences, I have truly gotten to understand the value of serving the communities that you are part of. I now understand, more than I ever have, the value of approaching community work with intentionality and passion, for it’s a stepping stone for creating the future leaders of tomorrow.