Alumni Donors Help Paper Science Students See the World

Whether it’s life, love or careers, Adam Elhammoumi and Jesseeca “Jess” Nguyen, both 2015 alumni, credit North Carolina State University with shaping theirs — especially by experiencing other cultures through studying abroad.

Now, the married couple is giving students in the Paper Science and Engineering program the opportunity to get as much out of the experience as they did through creation of the Elhammoumi Nguyen Cultural Immersion Scholarship Endowment. 

The funds will help the program’s undergraduates benefit from spending time outside of the United States. 

“Travel gives you a global perspective you can’t get otherwise. No matter where you are in the world, we’re all just trying to get along in life, eat good food and be with loved ones,” Adam said. “I’ve been to Russia, China, parts of Asia and all throughout Europe, and —governments and ideologies aside — people are pretty much the same everywhere. That was an eye-opening experience for me.” 

Through an initial $50,000 gift, the couple is opening the door to similar epiphanies in students for years to come. 

Finding Their Way to Generosity

Now in their early 30s, Adam and Jess met in a chemical engineering class during their sophomore year. Adam came from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and Jess from Charlotte. 

In a stroke of early luck, Adam had caught the attention of Med Byrd, who invited the as-yet-undeclared engineering major for a tour of the pulp and paper lab — changing the course of his academic, personal and professional life.

“I was impressed with the professors, the small class sizes and the industry-oriented labs. And they offered me a scholarship, which helped sway my decision. I took it hook, line and sinker,” said Adam, who would go on to earn a dual undergraduate degree in paper science and engineering and chemical engineering.

Unlike Adam, Jess always knew what she wanted to be. She would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with a concentration in biomanufacturing, and eventually, an MBA at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“In every interest I had, I could see how chemical engineers could do something with it, and there’s no better engineering school in North Carolina than NC State. I did get scholarships, too, including a Goodnight Scholarship, which was a large part of my college experience,” Jess said.

Ten years after graduation, Adam is establishing a turbine generator program at Smurfit Westrock, a job he said his education fully prepared him to execute.

“The College of Natural Resources and the Paper Science and Engineering program are very geared toward applied engineering and industry, rather than research and development. A lot of the professors come from industry. The classes I took had hands-on labs, and they directly scaled to what I’ve done in professional life: problem solving and working in the mill,” he said. 

Jess is a research and development applications manager at Honeywell, developing a polyethylene fiber used in bulletproof vests, medical sutures and other products.

“NC State taught me a lot about versatility and flexibility. One of the mottos I took from Jimmy V [former head coach Jimmy Valvano] is ‘survive and advance.’ Keep your head up, keep going; life can be challenging, but if you survive and advance, you’ll make it to the other side. That carries me through tough product trials and maintenance issues and breaking equipment on the job,” she said.

Their positions let them play a role in their respective employer’s sustainability efforts, too.

“Sustainability addresses our future, and Jess and I are big proponents of paying it forward,” Adam said. “There’s a proverb we like: ‘A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.’”

This philosophy is reflected in some of their daredevil-ish outdoor hobbies, like snowmobiling biking alongside buffalo herds and 17-day whitewater rafting trips. It also naturally spills over into the couple’s desire to help future NC State students.

Recreating Their Experiences for Others 

“We were fortunate to get well-paying jobs, so we’ve always donated to the university at some level. We’d donate to trips abroad and make small gifts every year, then we started talking about what kind of legacy we could put together,” Adam said. “We both had gotten scholarships, and when one of my old classmates set up an endowment for a scholarship, it got our wheels turning.”

The couple began talking to Jennifer Piercy ’94, the assistant dean of philanthropy at the College of Natural Resources, who presented a number of options and ways to plan for a gift. The conversation went on for about a year, Adam said.

“Jess and I both took several trips abroad during our time at NC State, and the chance to travel was important to our education. I felt that while there are a lot of different scholarships out there based on grades or need or whatever, none were really geared toward providing an international experience,” he said. “We saw it as a gap or opportunity we could fill, not just by paying for a trip but offering help with housing or whatever was missing.”

“This endowment is a really cool way to encourage our love for travel and different cultures … while also giving back to the College of Natural Resources.”

Even though Jess’ parents and older sister were immigrants, she didn’t get a chance to fully see other worlds until she studied abroad.

“I’d never been anywhere international before college, then I went on a study abroad trip to Peru. It was amazing, the trip of a lifetime: six weeks, including a four-day backpack hike on the Incan Trail. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done,” she said. “The trip abroad gave me a sense of confidence that I could travel anywhere.”

Now, Adam and Jess are enjoying how it feels to pass along those opportunities to others through the Elhammouml Nguyen Cultural Immersion Scholarship Endowment.

“The Paper Science and Engineering program has been a second family to us,” Jess said. “Adam is really close to that community, and they have adopted me. We travel with them, and one of his professors married us. This endowment is a really cool way to encourage our love for travel and different cultures and the experiences we gain while also giving back to the College of Natural Resources.”

Adam added, “It’s exciting to see a student’s story on a blog or get a letter back from someone. Knowing that others are able to experience and cherish what we cherished feels really good. I’d say to other alumni: Think back to all the support you received throughout school and how you can help make that same difference in someone’s life going forward. It’s not been a big sacrifice. A little bit of budgeting and planning go a long way.”

This article was written by Cindy Dashnaw Jackson for the College of Natural Resources.