How a Millville native and Navy commander came to mentor a fellow alum

MILLVILLE — Though more than 20 years apart, two Millville High School graduates have forged a bond and a mentorship through shared histories and goals after a serendipitous connection that began with a newspaper clipping.

In May, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, who works at the Pentagon in public relations, received a message from her aunt with a clipping from The Press’ Young Leaders Scholarship Award publication that a high school senior from her hometown was pursuing a similar career path.

In his interview for the award, Zachary Nolter, 18, shared his dreams of becoming a nuclear submarine officer, applying to the Naval Academy and studying nuclear engineering. He recounted his story of being adopted, sacrificing his wants for his education, and persevering even when he was told he was not good enough.

“I have a very similar personal story and I would love the opportunity to encourage and mentor Zachary,” McNulty wrote in an email to The Press after receiving the clip, hoping to get in contact with Nolter and his family. “I’d just like Zachary to know that there is NO LIMIT for a kid from Millville, New Jersey! I am proof.”

Nolter said that not too long after the Young Leaders awards were announced, he had a phone call with McNulty, who he said gave him a lot of advice and offered her guidance through the rest of his naval journey.

“I thought that was amazing. I was shocked. This commander was talking to me, and I was ecstatic,” Nolter said. “And the fact that she’s from Millville is even better. I didn’t even know we had a commander (who) came from Millville.”

“I talked to Zachary for two hours,” McNulty said. “We’ve been in touch ever since.”

McNulty and Nolter have made plans to meet up in person when the commander returns to her hometown, and she invited Nolter and his parents for a tour of the Pentagon.

While Nolter did not get accepted into the Naval Academy, he is going to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on a full scholarship from the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, which he was awarded last month and is worth up to $230,000.

The highly competitive NROTC scholarship provides full tuition, room and board, books stipend, educational fees and other financial entitlements to one of the country’s leading higher education institutions.

McNulty, a 1999 graduate of Millville High School, has Naval roots that span four generations. Like Nolter, McNulty did not make it into the Naval Academy on her first try. She instead went to the University of New Mexico on a Navy ROTC scholarship.

She has served the last 17 years in the Navy abroad and at home, on a warship in Japan and as a social aide in the White House in the early days of the Obama administration. The Navy changed her life, she said.

She, too, just graduated in June with a master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College in Washington, D.C.

“I was really moved by his personal story because it really resonated with me and also the fact of the local tie. Let’s face it, in general, not a lot of young people choose to serve in the military,” McNulty said this week. “It kind of seemed like a similar path to me.”

Nolter said his dad, Roger, who spent 20 years in the Navy, inspired him to join the military.

“He was an electrician on a nuclear submarine,” Nolter said. “Hearing his stories all about it really drove me to do it.”

His grandfather also served.

Nolter said he appreciates being an American.

“I want to give time to this place that gave me so much opportunity,” he said.