Alumni Assemblymember Adam Gray. Adam Gray is a true son of Merced County, having graduated from Golden Valley High School (1996) and earned his credits at Merced College before transferring to UC Santa Barbara and graduating there in 2000.
Jill Cunningham has taken on Merced College, not once, but twice so far in her lifetime. Cunningham first came to the College after graduating from Le Grand High School “in the 80s.” Here she earned 60 credits, and then transferred to American University in Washington, D.C. Her second trip is ongoing. A longtime political operative in our nation’s capital and the Bay Area, she returned in 2017 to serve as Associate Vice President of External Relations and Executive Director of the Merced College Foundation. For our alumni issue, Cunningham now ruminates on her experiences as a Blue Devil—the one that was preordained, and the one that brought her home.