Southwestern Magazine | Fall 2020

Paige Duggins- Clay ’14 An English and education double major with a minor in race and ethnicity studies, Duggins-Clay earned her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. She currently is an attorney at Husch Blackwell LLP, where she specializes in education law and civil rights. Whether working on behalf of educational institutions or representing disenfran- chised and disadvantaged individuals, Duggins-Clay strives to make communities better. She credits Southwestern with helping her turn her passion into her career: “As the daughter of an educator and as an African-American woman, I came to Southwestern knowing I was passionate about education, civil rights, and social justice. Southwestern gave me the amazing opportunity to pursue each of these areas both individually and intersectionally.” Paloma Mayorga ’10 A studio art major and art history minor, Mayorga is an artist and independent curator who currently serves as development coordinator at Big Medium, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting artists and building community through the arts. She also serves as director of PrintAustin, where she organizes an annual monthlong printmaking festival. Mayorga appreciates how Southwestern encourages students to think, create, and connect in new ways. “The art courses at Southwestern were really quite interdisciplinary, with assignments always being paired with art and art historical literature,” she says. “It inspired me to be able to study various movements, seeing that my work as an artist could be part of a larger conversation.” Patrick Keenan ’11 After suffering an injury as a member of the Pirates baseball team his sophomore year and completing his journey through the rehabilitation process, Keenan became interested in pursuing a career that would let him combine his love of science with his love of sports. He graduated with a major in kinesiology and a minor in exercise and sports studies before earning his doctor of physical therapy degree from the U.S. Army–Baylor University Doctoral Program in Physical Therapy. Today, he serves as executive fellow to the chief of the Army Medical Specialist Corps. He is grateful for the support and encouragement he received from his kinesiology professors at Southwestern. “They were always gracious with their time, responsive to student (and student–athlete) needs, and demanded excellence from their students,” he says. Yesenia Garcia Herrington ’03 Herrington studied theatre and communication at Southwestern before earning her M.F.A. in acting from the University of Texas at Austin. She currently serves as professor of drama at Central Texas College and is a member of the adjunct faculty at Austin Community College and Temple College. In addition to teaching acting, voice, and the history of theatre, she serves as the resident director at Central Texas College, where she focuses on producing works written by women and people of color. In 2020, she earned a special merit certificate in directing from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. For Herrington, writing her own one-person show for her capstone project at Southwestern was particularly rewarding. “The sense of accomplishment that I achieved was extremely satisfying and self-a rming,” she says. Landon Sommer ’07 Sommer participated in the 3-2 engineering program at Southwestern, earning his B.A. in physical science from Southwestern and his B.S. in biomedical engineering from Texas A&M University. He began his career as a biomedical flight controller for Wyle (now part of KBR), where he supported International Space Station real-time mission operations. He currently serves as Human Landing System human systems integrator at KBR. Sommer advises current Southwestern students to take advantage of all the experiences available to them: “An opportunity that you never expected to show up could be the best opportunity for you and one that you may end up loving to do.” 2 0 | SOUTHWE S T E RN