Throughout Santa Fe’s long history, it has accumulated its host of successful alumni. Ariyiana and Duquan Haynes are two of Santa Fe’s most impressive. 

Ariyiana Haynes graduated from Santa Fe in 2015. She went to Howard and currently works at Swift Currie law firm. She went to Summit Middle School and loved her experience at Santa Fe.

“I really liked it, I had some great teachers,” Haynes said.

She names Mr. Williams specifically as a very influential figure in her high school career.  

“He is actually a big reason I decided to go into law,” Haynes said.

Ariyiana had already applied to Howard when she took Mr. Williams’ class and was really influenced by the way he talked about law. 

“When I took his class, he talked about how much law impacts our lives,” Ariyiana said, “I really liked both the classes I had with him and so I thought I wanna do this.”

Ariyiana always wanted to go to a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) because her mom went to Langston, the only HBCU in Oklahoma. Ariyiana had wanted to go to Howard since fifth grade.

“It was the only school I applied to because I knew that’s where I wanted to go,” Ariyiana said.

She loved her time at Howard, despite the big move from Oklahoma to DC. She loved DC and calls it a transformative experience. 

“It was probably the best decision of my life,” Ariyiana said.

Ariyiana is a shining paradigm of hard work and sheer dedication paying off.

Duquan Haynes, Ariyiana’s brother,  also lives a very successful life. He graduated from Santa Fe in 2013 and graduated from UCO with a degree in business. 

He loved his time at Santa Fe, saying Santa Fe prepared him for his career because of how diverse Santa Fe is.

“We’re the most diverse [In Edmond Public Schools] and I think it mirrors the world,” Duquan said, “[When I attended Santa Fe] I got to know different cultures, different people, different everything.”

Duquan had many great teachers but says Ms. Robinson, Ms. Walsh, and Ms. Hanson were some of his favorites. He also has great memories of Mr. Williams’ class.

“He’s the best history teacher in the world,” Duquan said.

He currently works at Paycom, a technology and software company here in Oklahoma, as a product manager. He spends his days brainstorming ideas to solve various problems as they come up.

He first got a job at Paycom while he was in college and worked there for a short time before he finally got the product manager position. Duquan loved his job because it lets him feel connected to people. He constantly has to approach problems from many different angles in order to solve them effectively.

Duquan can teach us all the importance of networking and understanding the value of different perspectives. 

From lawyer to product manager, the Haynes family is a story of success and how Santa Fe can help prepare people for their future.