North Carolina State University Athletics
Ellington Studies Textile Industry in Vietnam
7/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
July 27, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. -
During the three weeks women's golfer Caroline Ellington spent in Vietnam, she and a group of students from the College of Textiles were enrolled in a Vietnamese culture class as well as a course dealing with Global Perspectives of the Textile Supply Chain with a focus on Vietnam.
Ellington had the opportunity to tour textile operations ranging from mass garment-producing factories to small, family-owned productions. The group experienced life in the heart of bustling Ho Chi Minh City, visited the breathtaking central highlands, and stayed several days in the rural and largely undeveloped Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam.
"Seeing all of the processes I have learned about sitting in a classroom greatly enhanced my comprehension," said Ellington. "I was able to understand the engineering aspects of production so much better after seeing them in action."
Aside from the invaluable textile-related experiences Ellington had during her travels, she was also fortunate enough to get an up-close look at Vietnamese culture and society.
"Most of what I knew about Vietnam's history had to do with the Vietnam War," said Ellington. "On this trip I learned that there is so much more to what makes this country and its people so unique."
In touring operating factories, Ellington saw fibers being spun into yarns, yarns woven and knit into fabric, fabric dyed and finished, all the way to that fabric being cut and sewn into the final product. Witnessing these procedures in person gave her a superior and thorough understanding compared to my comprehension prior to this trip.
Each student on the trip was paired with a Vietnamese "buddy" student. Being paired with a Vietnamese student provided Ellington and her fellow students the opportunity to see what life is like for college-aged students in Vietnam.
Ellington took full advantage of this window into the culture and experienced as many genuinely Vietnamese things as she could. Among authentic cuisine Ellington sampled were jellyfish, frog, turtle, cricket, musk rat, snake, and every exotic fruit available.
Ellington is spending the rest of her summer between Raleigh and her hometown of New Bern, NC, playing a lot of golf. She will be a redshirt sophomore on the NC State women's golf team for the 2011-2012 season and has played in several amateur tournaments since her return from Vietnam.
Ellington's passion for golf combined with her passion for fashionable clothing, fuel her dream to create a line of performance golf attire for enthusiastic golfers. Ellington is progressing toward a major in textile engineering with a concentration in product development and a minor in business administration with a focus in entrepreneurship.
Following graduation, she plans to pursue her dream to launch a clothing line and do all she can to make it a reality.
