Montgomery County Community College Engineering major Gia Huy Nguyen was recently named to the All-Pennsylvania Academic Team. He said he spends most of his time on the Blue Bell Campus studying in the library. Photo by Eric Devlin
When Gia Huy Nguyen enrolled at Montgomery County Community College in the fall of 2023, he had big dreams of becoming an engineer. Through hard work and dedication in-and-out of the classroom, the College has helped him gain the tools and experience needed to build a successful career.
Nguyen, 24, a Mechanical Engineering major from Lansdale, was recently named to the All-Pennsylvania Academic Team as a transfer scholar. The team is sponsored by Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the international honor society for two-year colleges, and The Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges.
This recognition honors an exceptional group of community college students who have achieved academic excellence and demonstrated a commitment to their colleges and communities. To qualify, students must have completed at least 36 credits and have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.
The Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges recognized Nguyen and three other MCCC All-Pennsylvania team members with other award recipients statewide in Harrisburg April 7.
“I’m so excited,” Nguyen said on being named to the team. “This feels like recognition of all the hard work I’ve done to get to this point.”
Before starting at Montco, Nguyen worked as an operator at a manufacturing company but found it boring and repetitive.
“My dream has always been to become an engineer, ,” he said, “and that dream pushed me to change my path by enrolling in school.”
After enrolling at MCCC, he began taking English as a Second Language courses to help him improve. Then he moved into Engineering courses. He quit his job and took a position as a machine operator on the second
shift, enabling him to study in the mornings.
“At first, it was intimidating, but little by little I gained confidence,” he said. “My listening and speaking improved, and I even made new friends both at work and in school. Balancing full-time work with full-time study was not easy, but it taught me discipline, time management, and resilience.”
His success in the classroom, meanwhile, led to many new opportunities. He was named to the Dean’s List three times, he joined the volleyball club and became a member of Alpha Kappa Zeta, the Blue Bell Campus PTK chapter.
“Becoming a member of Phi Theta Kappa has been one of the most meaningful recognitions of my academic journey so far,” said Nguyen. “Being invited to PTK showed me that my hard work and persistence were paying off. It gave me confidence that even while balancing work and full-time study, I could still achieve at a high academic level.”
He has also been named the recipient of the Nicholas J. D’Aniello Engineering Endowed Scholarship and the Joy Kanter Memorial Endowed Scholarship.
In addition, Engineering Professor Chengyang Wang encouraged Nguyen to apply for an Engineering Co-op at the furniture manufacturer, Knoll Inc., and he was accepted.
“I was so grateful to Dr. Wang. That changed my whole life,” he said. “I was able to learn more about Engineering and my whole career.”
At Knoll, he shadowed engineers, joined team meetings to solve problems, and gained technical skills such as learning the Computer Aided Design (CAD) program, Creo, and in Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) programming.
"I am incredibly thankful to MillerKnoll,” he said. “My co-op experience there showed me what real-world engineering looks like and solidified my goal to become an engineer. The work environment is wonderful, and the people have been so kind to me. I want to give a special thank you to my bosses, Nick Kinney and Drew Kuhn, for taking a chance and hiring me when I had no prior experience."
A key project he designed was a new workstation table in company’s saw room. His design improved the table by including wheels and attaching air tools. He sought help from the company’s employees on the look and design and received overwhelmingly positive feedback on the project.
“The one thing that made me happy was the operators were happy with what I made them,” he said.
Nguyen is set to graduate from MCCC in spring 2026 and plans to transfer to a four-year institution to continue his education. He wants to keep studying mechanical engineering to obtain a bachelor’s degree, then begin working full-time as a mechanical engineer with a focus on manufacturing. He credits MCCC for helping him get on the path to success.
"I am so thankful for MCCC” he said. “It is a place where I met so many amazing friends and professors who supported me from my very first ESL classes all the way to my engineering courses. The community here made me feel welcome and gave me the confidence to change my career path."
Pennsylvania’s community colleges collaborate with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) universities to provide a tuition waiver to eligible All-Pennsylvania Transfer Team members at PASSHE institutions, providing two years of tuition at any PASSHE university.