When David Paden talks about Austin Community College, he is not speaking as an outsider. He is speaking as someone who once sat where today’s students sit.
“I remember what it felt like to be a student here,” Paden says. “Hungry to learn, eager to grow, and grateful for every opportunity, all the while needing a schedule that would allow me to manage life alongside my education.”
ACC gave him that flexibility and a start. From ACC, Paden continued his education at Texas State University, and from there, he built a career in the construction industry. Today, he serves as Austin Regional President of SpawGlass, a Texas-based construction services provider, and as a member of the ACC Foundation Board of Directors.
His connection to ACC runs deeper than his own story. SpawGlass helped build the community ACC serves, including the original ACC Round Rock campus and the ACC Highland Parking Garage. And the relationship continues in the people who walk through SpawGlass’s doors every day.
“We have 27 ACC alumni currently working at SpawGlass today,” Paden says, “and we continue to seek out more.”
That is not a coincidence. It reflects a belief that has guided SpawGlass for more than seven decades. As one of the company’s co-founders, Mr. Spaw, once put it: “We don’t just build buildings; we build people.”
For Paden, supporting the ACC Foundation is an extension of that same idea.
“When we talk about giving back, what we’re really talking about is investing in people,” he says. “In potential. In futures.”
It is a full-circle story: a student who found his footing at ACC, built a career, and now opens doors for the next generation of Central Texans ready to do the same.
