A consummate survivor, Mercedes Rain-Tree Adams has overcome tremendous obstacles to earn her degree—and develop a more positive outlook on the future.Adult learners stop out of school for many reasons. Sometimes, the financial burden of a college education becomes too much to bear. For others, the struggle to balance courses with work and family results in the hard choice to leave school. For Mercedes Rain-Tree Adams, family tragedy and the need to focus on her own mental health required a yearlong break from her studies at Old Dominion University. And even after returning to campus from her much-needed sabbatical, Mercedes