After Unimaginable Loss, Iona University Nursing Student Transforms Pain into Purpose
Orphaned after COVID-19 claimed her mother, Molly Guillaume ’25 refused to be defeated
Molly Guillaume ’25 in the Kelly Center for Health Sciences.
In the days before her high school graduation, Molly Guillaume was picking out two dresses—one for her diploma ceremony and another for her mother’s funeral.
A student at New Rochelle High School at the time, Guillaume had already lost her father to a terminal illness, spending much of her childhood as his caretaker. Then, in June 2021, COVID-19 took her mother, a dedicated nurse who had fought on the front lines through the pandemic.
At 18, she was alone.
But she refused to be defeated.
Instead, she enrolled at Iona University to pursue nursing – not just to follow in her mother’s footsteps, but to forge her own path forward in the field.
“I realized the importance of life at a really young age,” said Guillaume, who will graduate this month with the Class of 2025. “It only made my drive for nursing even greater, because I really wanted to care for people. I understand what grief and loss look like, and what it’s like to care for someone who’s not going to get better.”
When she arrived on campus as a freshman, she wasn’t sure what to expect. But what she found at Iona was more than an education – it was a second home.
“Iona has given me a newfound family,” she said. “Through everything that I went through, I’ve been blessed with people that aren’t even related to me but that care so much. That’s why I tell people: family is what you make of it.”
Molly Guillaume and her adopted mother, Michelle Alston.
As Guillaume worked her way through Iona’s rigorous nursing program in the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, she discovered a passion for nursing leadership and education. Inspired by her professors, she now envisions a future where she leads not just in patient care, but in shaping the future of nursing administration. She hopes to conduct research, mentor the next generation, and one day, even open her own practice.
Despite the hardships, Guillaume has found strength in her journey. From a reserved high school senior navigating unimaginable loss to a confident nursing student eager to travel the world and make a difference, her story is one of faith and perseverance. In another unexpected turn of events, Guillaume has also recently been embraced by an adoptive family, Michelle and Kathyrn Alston, who came into Guillaume’s life shortly after her mother’s passing.
“I am so blessed to have extraordinary people around me,” she said. “My adoptive family has shown me love like no other. I love and cherish them so much.”
Now, as she prepares to take her next steps across the Iona Commencement stage, Guillaume is reflecting on all she has navigated and is proud of how far she’s come.
“It's like a flurry of emotions; mainly, a lot of gratitude for Iona for allowing me to have this opportunity to learn, and I’m proud of myself for not giving up and being resilient through it all,” she said. “I don’t know why I went through everything I did. But it has to be for a reason.”
Please enjoy these news reports on ABC and CBS to learn more about Guillaume’s inspiring story.
ABC’s Joe Torres interviews Molly Guillaume ’25 in the Kelly Center for Health Sciences.
Molly Guillaume and her birth parents, Marie and Sam Guillaume.
CBS’s Mary Calvi shares Molly Guillaume’s inspiring story live on air.
Molly Guillaume with faculty at the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences during her White Coat Ceremony in September 2023.
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona also continues to be recognized in prestigious national rankings. Most recently for 2025, Iona has been named one of the nation’s best colleges by The Princeton Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others. Additionally, U.S. News & World Report recognized Iona as one of top for social mobility in the country, while Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) ranked an Iona degree in the top 5 percent nationally for long-term return on investment. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business, meanwhile, is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just 6 percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2024.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with one of the nation’s top hospitals. Connecting to its Irish heritage, Iona also opened a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland, located on the historic 400-acre Westport House Estate. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.