Yale freshman and Westbury resident William Alexander, although just 17 years old, already has a long list of achievements. The aspiring lawyer and investment banker believes his ambitious personality is partly due to his motto that as long as he works diligently at his goals he can accomplish them.

"I believe the future is limitless and anything is possible," William said. This go-getter attitude has already opened a number of doors for William and he hopes to have even more doors opened in the near future.

William, who was born and raised in The Hedges section, said that he has enjoyed his Westbury experience. "Westbury is a very nice town and I like living here. I have played in the local basketball leagues, I was a member of Boy Scouts and I go to church at St. Brigid's," he said, adding that he also attended Westbury's Dryden Street, Park Avenue School and Drexel Avenue Schools before attending Kellenberg Memorial High School's Latin School in sixth grade.

What he enjoys most about Westbury is that the village "offers a little bit of everything." "Westbury has the big stores, small stores and mom-and-pop places. That also makes it great," he said.

According to William's mother, Jan Alexander, her son was always "humble, kind, focused and a good listener when he was a little boy." These personality traits have clearly followed William through to his teenage years and his high school career was one filled with dedication, friendships, sports, leadership, honors and altruism.

With a 97 grade point average, William was valedictorian of Kellenberg's Class of 2006. In addition, he received nearly a perfect score on his SATs, served as president of Kellenberg's National Honor Society and, at graduation, received the Most Outstanding Male Award for history and English.

"History and English are my two favorite subjects. I'm a big American history fan because I like how it's so short," William said. "I also like how you can go back 200 years and so much stuff has happened since then." As for English, William loves the subject because he enjoys reading and writing. His current reading list includes Greek classics like The Iliad by Homer.

Although it took William a while to work on his commencement address, he said he was very happy with how it turned out. "When I was done, I didn't want to leave and wished I had a longer speech," he said jokingly. William said he was especially grateful for all of the help he received from his history teacher John Benintendi. "We had meetings every weekday for about two weeks just practicing my speech and polishing it up. My speech was focused on following your heart and not going with what's popular but going with what makes you happy deep down," William said, adding that he dedicated a paragraph in his speech to his parents to honor them. "The paragraph was about how my parents came from Grenada and made it so successful in America. They lived the 'American Dream' and anyone can do it. They are two parents from Grenada and they have a son who is valedictorian so anything is possible," he said.

According to William, "Kellenberg is a school that never sleeps." and he believes his extracurricular involvement played a large part in his success. "Kellenberg was my life for seven years. I was in so many clubs and I spent entire days there," he said, making reference to a school trip to Rome last summer during which he saw Pope Benedict XVI. "We were sitting in one of the upper areas and Pope Benedict was about 20 feet away from me. We watched Pope Benedict say his Mass in German," he said. "It was very exciting that I was so close to one of the most important people in the world. It was very spiritual."

During his senior year, William served as captain and president of Kellenberg's academic quiz bowl team. The time it took to prepare for the different tournaments was both challenging and fun to him. "You definitely have to practice to be good. Tournaments were all-day events so you have to be ready. The practices were fun. The tournaments were fun too and they were really big events," William said, adding that during his senior year, he played teams from Texas, California and other states across the country as well as competed in the News 12 Long Island Challenge, finishing second in Nassau County.

In being the only African-American on Kellenberg's academic quiz bowl team, William is very happy to know that he is creating social change. He hopes that his success will inspire younger African-American students to become involved in the activity. "Hopefully, more African-American kids will follow and five years from now there will be more," he said.

William also learned the value of altruism during his time at his high school. For three years, he taught younger children in Kellenberg's Parish Religious Education Program and also volunteered in the school's Big Brother and Sister Program. In being a Big Brother, William was a mentor to freshman students and he tutored some of the students in algebra. "I got to know the kids and I love working with the kids," he said. In addition, William was also an officer in the school's history club for three years and, in 2006, was the master of ceremony for the club's annual Veteran's Day Tribute Dinner.

With his busy schedule, the young Renaissance man still finds the time to be a regular teenager. He enjoys hanging out with his friends, watching movies and sports, favoring such professional athletes as LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Vick. William was a starter on Kellenberg's varsity volleyball team his senior year, helping lead the team to an undefeated finish of 17-0.

Recently, William connected his love for writing with his love for sports in a satirical opinion article he wrote called "The Ode to the Benchwarmer" for The Phoenix, Kellenberg's school newspaper. In the article, which won him third place awards from Adelphi University for Best Opinion Piece and The Long Island Catholic for Best Column, William paid tribute to the school's benchwarmers, contending that their role on a team is often overlooked. "I wrote the article on what it's like to be a benchwarmer and how they are still needed in the world," William said, smiling. The article was inspired by a personal experience that Alexander had during his junior year. "I played for my school's varsity basketball team and I didn't play much," he said.

While his high school experience played a mayor role in his success thus far, William also accredits his success to the love and support he receives from his family. "My family is definitely the biggest part of my life. Whenever I'm in need I go to them. They have been there for me 110 percent," he said, adding that his father is the person who inspires him the most. "The way my father has risen from coming from Grenada to making it so big in America makes him the biggest inspiration to me."

With a nearly perfect SAT score, the college search, said William was "slightly nerve-racking." In the end, he chose a college that he felt he "would be happy spending four years in." Earlier this month, William began a new chapter of his life at Yale University in New Haven, CT. He plans to major in economics and wants to study other subjects like political science and history. William believes that these areas of study will help him achieve his goal of becoming a lawyer. Working as an investment banker on Wall Street is another career that he is considering for the near future. He said he is young and wants to keep his career options open.

Ten years down the road, William said he sees himself working as either a constitutional or corporate lawyer. "At the end of the day, you can sleep knowing that you are making the world a better place," he said, adding that most importantly, he hopes to be doing something that makes him happy.