Jamaican's dream soon to come true at BYU

There is money in industrial design. Spencer completed an internship with Astro Studios during the summer of 2006 and another with General Motors this summer. He worked on designs for a toy car, the Jam Pack Jam by Cranium, that is on shelves this Christmas, and his design suggestions for GM and Intel helped him win a major scholarship awarded annually by the Industrial Designers Society of America to the nation's top two industrial design students.

One of his feature ideas was based on Smart Carte, the airport baggage carts that require a deposit. Spencer dreamed up "Smart a la Carte," a space-age-style orange lunchbox for planes. Passengers could order food from an airport kiosk — it would be better than airline fare — then return the lunchbox like a Smart Carte at the end of their flight.

"It encourages reusability," he said. "The size and shape are such so that it fits on your tray table, and so you can stick it in the pouch in front of you, then return it for a cash incentive."

He also designed a sleek green product that would gather the computing power of a small business' aging computers and combine them into one faster and more reliable machine.

He also designed a watch that, whenever a wearer was close to an Internet connection, would download e-mails and Facebook messages.

Spencer's own quest began amid the orchards of his native Bog Walk, Jamaica. From there, the Nugent family emigrated in 2000 to Orem, where Victor and Verna operate AJS Carpet Cleaning. Like his oldest brother and sister, who attended Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) before being admitted to BYU, Spencer spent a year at Utah Valley State College. After an LDS Church mission, BYU accepted him.

"In Jamaica, the education system is a little different. I didn't have enough requirements to get straight into BYU," he said. "For me, UVSC was a segue into BYU. I always knew I was going to go to BYU someday."

He has a 3.9 GPA and after graduation will move to San Francisco to work for Astro Studios, which helped design the Xbox 360 and works with Nike and Microsoft.

"My parents taught us good principles," he said. "Education was always stressed. For me, looking up to my brothers and sisters influenced me."

The oldest Nugent child, Peter, earned a degree in sociology; now he runs an information technology firm in Utah. Then Cecile earned an art degree; she works at a museum in Pittsburgh. Mark, who now works for Intel in Oregon, earned both civil engineering and MBA degrees from BYU. Camille also graduated with an art degree and does graphic design for a Utah firm.

The Nugents sacrificed financially to achieve Victor's goal, especially as the Jamaican economy saw interest rates rise at one point to 40 percent.