Laretha “Bre” Shaw’s personal journey has served as her motivation to support and uplift others. After becoming pregnant early in her freshman year at Mercer University, the marketing major never once considered dropping out. As she continued her studies, she became a devoted mother to her baby girl as well as an advocate for student-parents.
Shaw’s perseverance and accomplishments as an undergraduate student earned her Mercer’s 2025 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medal, for which she will be recognized during the Macon campus commencement on May 12.
“I was raised with my grandparents,” she said. “It was always set in stone that whatever comes up in life, you don’t let that stop you. I have things I have to do while my time is still here on Earth, especially with my goals.”
Shaw chose to attend Mercer because she felt at home on the Macon campus and thought the smaller size would allow her to make meaningful connections. After she learned she was expecting, she moved back home to Fitzgerald and switched to online classes. She found support from her peers, mentors and professors.
She had her daughter, Sanavia, in August 2022, two weeks before starting her sophomore year. Sanavia will turn 3 years old this summer. With a strong family support system, Shaw said she was able to meet her academic goals while being a parent. She also moved back to Macon in fall 2023 to resume in-person classes.
“It’s all about balance,” she said. “The difficult part of motherhood in school is when you’re done with school you have to come home and do homework. Being fully present with your child while still trying to be fully present for school, I had to overcome that.”
Shaw is now helping other student-parents navigate their higher education journeys. In August 2024, she began a two-year internship as a student-parent co-designer for the Education Design Lab in Washington, D.C. She said it’s meaningful work that she’s invested in, and the internship could lead to a full-time position.
“It’s an organization built to support student-parents while they’re going into higher education. We’re trying to rewrite college for student-parents,” Shaw said. “Originally, higher education wasn’t designed with student-parents in mind. I want colleges to see the dedication student-parents have and how we can best support them within their academic journey.”
She works with students-parents to see what additional needs they have and higher education practitioners on how they can provide assistance. Shaw has created digital content, conducted research, led information sessions and assisted with community events for student-parent learners.
She also designed materials for programming the organization is launching in May on topics including child care access; utilizing artificial intelligence to help with time management; mental health struggles and guilt that student-parents face; skills visibility; and creating champions for student-parents. In addition, she is helping to recruit program participants and donors to help fund the project.
“It is harder for students-parents to navigate their studies while being a full-time parent and potentially working full time. They also have a lot of financial barriers. I feel like it’s so important to factor them into the mission and vision for college, not just supporting a specific group but accommodating everybody,” she said.
Shaw has also gained marketing and real-world experience through opportunities in her courses and in the community. Last summer, she raised awareness about mental health issues as a social media marketing intern for Macon Mental Health Matters and promoted Macon businesses and tourism as a marketing intern for Visit Macon. She has also served as an after-school teacher at Montessori of Macon since fall 2023.
In addition, Shaw was an instrumental team member in a service-learning project for her marketing research and marketing management courses. Students market and sell bags hand-crafted by Rwandan entrepreneurs, who receive all of the proceeds, and Shaw continued to support the Rwandan families by serving as an intern for the project during her senior year.
After graduation, she will continue to solidify and expand her skills, in addition to completing her internship. She is currently working on Meta certification and plans to complete similar training for other social media platforms.
“I see myself being within my role with supporting parents,” she said. “I enjoy social media marketing and creating content. I see myself becoming more of a freelancer, continuing to build my portfolio. I feel like you can never stop learning, and you can never learn too much.”
Shaw said the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medal means a lot to her and speaks to how she tries to live each day. She believes that with positivity and her faith in God, she can tackle anything she sets her mind to.
“If you stay true to yourself, I feel like the sky … there’s no limit,” she said. “Regardless of where you come from, you can always do what you want to do. You seek out the right individuals to help you on your pathway to your goal, but you never take no for an answer and you just trust in yourself.”
