Humanities Major to Harvard Law School: Kyla Duffy ’18 on the Pursuit of Passion

How can you make the most of a history major? URI College of Arts and Sciences graduate Kyla Duffy ’18 has advice to offer students who are considering a path in the liberal arts but struggle to envision a career path after graduation. Duffy, a passionate double major in history and political science with a minor in art, recognizes the concern around job prospects for humanities majors in particular. However, in her career path and life after graduation she has found these courses of study to be invaluable. “With any humanities major I think the important thing is that it’s teaching you how to think,” she says, noting that these majors expand certain skillsets in ways other disciplines typically deemed “more practical” may not. She says that it was through her history major that she learned how to ask important questions about the world and improved her writing, speaking, and research skills.

Duffy’s crucial exposure to diverse thought in URI’s College of Arts and Sciences oriented her goals towards having an open mind and seeking to create solutions for those with different viewpoints. She reflects on this process by saying: “Having those critical experiences of just talking with people from different backgrounds prepared me for having an open mind.” Those experiences not only prepared her for various jobs in office environments, research work, customer service, and her current position with the RI Department of Health as a case investigator, but also for her journey applying to law school. Duffy will soon be attending Harvard Law School in pursuit of public interest law, particularly in the realm of nonprofits. She says that she will bring the skills she developed as a history major with her as she seeks to give back and help people using the skills and opportunities she has had. She believes her history background to be especially relevant to her career path because “it is impossible to understand the present or plan for the future without recognizing the variables that got us here.” She continues, “You need to understand where we’re coming from and what has influenced how we’ve gotten to this point to make meaningful change.”

Duffy’s success did not come without pushback from those who questioned her decision to major in history. However, she is a firm believer in students pursuing what they are most passionate about as she emphasizes, “students who care about what they’re studying take more out of those lessons and that’s how you translate those lessons into success.” As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us fatigued both mentally and physically, we realize it is now more than ever that we must follow those same lessons learned by Duffy, who was inspired to become a part of broader solutions after seeing so many blatant injustices throughout 2020. All things considered, it appears the humanities myth has been debunked, or as Duffy may soon say, case closed.

~ Written by Sabrinna Fogarty, double major in political science and philosophy