Española Valley High School graduates Leah and Therese Lujan will continue the next stage of their lives together at New Mexico State University.
The twins’ decision to move to Las Cruces together brought much alleviation to their mother, Danielle Seaboy.
“Going together, it was a relief for me,” she said. “At first, they were not going to attend the same school.”
Seaboy explained that ever since her daughters were born, it’s always been the three of them together, through thick and thin.
“My biggest role models growing up were my mom, uncle and auntie,” Leah Lujan said about her family. “They all showed me the importance of being kind, respectful and responsible. All of which have contributed to who I am today and who I will become.”
Therese Lujan agreed with her sister about their upbringing.
“My mother raised my sister and I to always push ourselves and do the best we can in everything we do, especially school,” she said.
Both of the sisters said their favorite subject in school was math — and both solved every problem that crossed their paths, on their way to becoming co-valedictorian and salutatorian of Española’s 2018 graduating class.
“Still to this day, It makes me so happy to know my girls reached goals academically that most people don’t,” Seaboy said about her daughters’ accomplishment. “Education has always been very important to us.”
According to Seaboy, the signs of academic success were evident early on, as both of her daughters loved to read from an early age.
“They both loved to read,” she said. “When they were supposed to go to bed, I would catch them under the covers reading. It was probably the naughtiest thing they ever did.”
Softball careers
The Lujan sisters were introduced to the game of softball at age 5 in Las Vegas, N.M., where they grew up.
Seaboy said it was important to get her girls involved in athletics to keep them “well-rounded.”
“Softball was my sport of choice because it is a very fun
sport,” Therese Lujan said. “It has helped me to develop friendships and has taught me valuable lessons.”
Both of the sisters said their favorite aspect of the sport was the relationships they were able to build with teammates, especially in their senior year.
“I am going to miss my
teammates the most because they made a huge contribution to making my softball career great,” Leah Lujan said.
Their teammate and fellow senior, Kaitlynn Madrid, was one of their closest friends.
“I will miss them driving up fast to practice because they were always late in their green Bug,” Madrid said. “Leah, at times, was a ball magnet, always getting hit at the plate, but took it like a champ. Leah as a player was a fierce first baseman that made some amazing stops with how the ball was thrown at her.”
Leah Lujan is known to be the shy one, while Therese Lujan is more outgoing.
“It never failed,” Madrid said about Therese’s personality. “Every practice or game she would make the entire team laugh at something funny she said or did. She was really good at catching pop flies, whether or not she chose to admit it herself — and one hell of a hitter.”
The Lujan twins were coached by Robert Garcia, who also was a mentor for them in student council and the classroom.
“I had a great relationship with coach Garcia,” Therese Lujan said. “He helped me to grow by pushing me to succeed as a student first and as a teammate and softball player second. He really made sure we were students first and athletes second.”
Laboratory
futures
Both sisters have a passion for the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum, so there’s no surprise they have engineering futures ahead of them.
Therese Lujan will study chemical engineering and Leah Lujan will study mechanical engineering.
“In the future, I hope to further my employment at Los Alamos National Laboratory,” Leah Lujan said.
“I would like to return to my community to give back as much as I can,” Therese Lujan added. “I hope to help change the negative reputation of Española by pushing students from here to go to college and get degrees in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.”
Growing up with a twin was a positive experience for both sisters.
“I always had someone to get in trouble with,” Leah Lujan said. “Despite all of the fighting, we could (or) can never stay mad at each other.”
Therese Lujan said it taught her to be unselfish.
“It’s like growing up with a best friend,” she said. “It taught me a lot about sharing.”