During their time at TROY, most students find lifelong friendships. For 2018 graduate Kayla Owens, her passion for the Spanish language led her to one of her best friends.
When Owens was in sixth grade, she met a new classmate who didn’t speak any English, so she decided to try and connect with her by using Google Translate to tell her, “Welcome to class!”
“I didn’t know any Spanish at the time, but that was just a way that I felt that I could connect with her,” Owens said. “Seeing how excited she was about that initially sparked my interest in Spanish.”
Throughout the rest of her middle school and high school journey, she continued learning Spanish. Owens shared that by her senior year in a high-level Spanish class, the language transformed from an interest into a passion.
“Through that class, I realized that this is something that I really want to use for the rest of my life,” Owens said. “I asked, ‘How do I get that to the next level?’ That’s what pushed me to study at TROY.”
Owens began attending TROY in 2014 and majored in Spanish, where she met Dr. Kelly Suero, who is now the chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures.
In 2015, Dr. Suero encouraged Owens to go out of the country for the first time on a study abroad to Costa Rica.
“Going and studying abroad and like forming those relationships made a big impact,” Owens said, “Including the person who made the biggest impact on my life, which was Kelly, and we became really good friends since then.”
Dr. Suero noted that as a student, Owens stood out immediately for being responsible, respectable, and deeply engaged.
“She was curious about the world, asked thoughtful questions, and showed a genuine enthusiasm for international learning,” Dr. Suero said. “Her openness to new experiences, whether in the classroom or on study abroad trips to Costa Rica and Argentina, demonstrated not only her academic commitment but also a genuine passion for connecting across cultures.”
In 2019, Owens accepted a position with the Peace Corps as a youth development facilitator in Lima, Peru. Dr. Suero made a visit that would mark the beginning of a lasting friendship.
“Our relationship shifted from professor-student to friendship when I met up with her in Lima,” Dr. Suero said. “She was serving in the Peace Corps, and I happened to be presenting at an international conference. We spent the day exploring the city together, and I had the chance to see her language skills in action, from ordering food in Spanish to speaking with her Peruvian host family. Since then, we’ve kept in close touch and shared many of life’s big milestones.”
Owens’ service in the Peace Corps was unfortunately cut short due to illness. While making her decision, she turned to her friend Dr. Suero for guidance.
“I was at a crossroads, because I think I knew really deep down that I needed to come home,” Owens said. “But it was such a large commitment, and it took so much for me to decide to go commit to service in the Peace Corps, that it really wasn’t something that I wanted to just quit. I remember having conversations with her, asking ‘What should I do?’ And something about Kelly is that she’ll never tell you, ‘Hey, this is what you should do. This is what you shouldn’t do.’ She’ll give you a good perspective on what happens if you stay, what happens if you go, but ultimately, the decision is yours.”
After returning from Peru and recovering, Owens found herself job hunting during the early days of the pandemic. A temp position at a roofing company led to an unexpected opportunity when the owner of IMPACT Roofing, a former colleague, called to offer her a role as office manager in 2021. She now serves as the Director of Operations for the company.
Despite taking a different professional path than she once imagined, Owens credits Dr. Suero with shaping not just her linguistic abilities but her approach to life. Their friendship and admiration for each other continue to grow.
“She loves the university, she loves her students, and you can tell,” Owens said. “I don’t think that I would really have the passion at the level that I do for the Spanish language, for the culture, the literature, and everything about it, if I did not take her class. There are so many things that I would have missed out on. And I’m just really, really grateful for professors like her because she sets the bar very high.”
“I enjoy that our friendship is built on both shared history and ongoing growth,” Dr. Suero said. “Because Kayla graduated from TROY and I continue to teach here, we’ll always have that bond, but our conversations go far beyond academics. I admire seeing how she has risen to the top in her professional career and how she balances that with her personal life. It’s rewarding to celebrate her successes and to know that our connection, which started in the classroom, has grown into a lifelong friendship. TROY has always been a place where meaningful relationships are built, and my friendship with Kayla is a testament to that.”
