Featured Sustaining Donor: Skylar Nguyen
While most college students move away from home at eighteen, not many imagine moving to a different country, leaving all their family and friends, struggling with a foreign language, and accepting a prestigious yet rigorous academic scholarship.
When Skylar Huyen Nguyen joined the Smittcamp Family Honors College in the Fall of 2014, she was only the third international student in the program's history. It was the first time she had lived away from home, away from her parents, brothers and extended family in Hanoi, Vietnam. Skylar chose the SFHC because she believed in the quality of its education, strong support system, and location in beautiful California.
“Freedom to pave my path is what mostly attracted me to the United States,” Nguyen said. “It’s a country of entrepreneurs and innovators who designed their way forward. I also hope to design mine after exploring different courses of study, and with guidance from experienced advisors.”
After pursuing a few different paths, Skylar chose to major in Environmental Sciences. Now, she works as an Environmental Scientist at the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans). She and her team study the potential environmental impacts of Caltrans’ projects, proposing measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate them. From there, they disclose their findings to the public, pursuant to federal, state and local environmental laws and policies. She seems to greatly enjoy it: “I love my work and team. They are knowledgeable, trust-worthy, and so fun to work with. We show up every day doing our very best, and I am proud of it.”
Skylar was very involved during her time on campus. She was a member of the Sustainability Club and the coordinator for International Coffee Hour—a weekly talk series on campus where international students share about their home countries’ traditions, histories, and cultures. She is also a long-term volunteer with Tagua Fair Trade in Fig Garden, a non-profit that sells sustainable, upcycled handicrafts from all over the world while ensuring that artisans are paid fair wages to support their families and communities.
Reflecting on the importance of extracurricular activities, Skylar said: “Some of my most valuable lessons from college were learned outside the classroom. I clearly remember staying late at club meetings to organize FS Earth Day, nervously knocking on doors trying to find speakers for Coffee Hour, or volunteering with my friends for Smittcamp community service events. We definitely bonded over sweat, stress, and Chipotle there.”
Shortly after graduation, Skylar chose to become a sustaining donor to the Honors College and donates a small amount automatically each month. She said that the Honors College was a defining influence on her life and that she would like to contribute on a sustaining basis to show her appreciation.
“I promised Dr. Attar I’d give back when I make my first million (laugh). That hasn’t happened yet, so this is a warmup. But honestly, the SFHC chose to invest in me, so I wanted to reinvest my trust in its future.”