About Adam Doleh

About Adam

Adam Doleh was born December 8, 1995. He died by suicide on January 2, 2017. Adam was a senior almost finished with his Chemical Engineering degree at The Ohio State University. His cumulative GPA was 3.89 and the last semester he finished, Autumn 2016, he earned A’s in all classes. He was the oldest of three children with one brother and sister.

Adam enjoyed riding his motorcycle. He also enjoyed his participation with the OSU cycling group and was known to ride his bicycle long distances typically over 50-100 miles at one time. He was a member of the OSU Mountaineers Club as well as a member of The Formula Buckeyes SAE race team.

Adam’s parents, along with family and friends, decided to create and fund this scholarship. They are doing this in his memory, as their way to encourage and help students follow in Adam’s academic footsteps, within the field of Chemical Engineering. It is their hope to extend a helping hand, to deserving OSU Chemical Engineering Buckeyes. These scholarships will be awarded to Buckeyes that have shown potential to change our world for the better, as everyone was convinced Adam would.

Adam has always been an A student since letter grades were awarded in first grade. He graduated at the top of his high school class in 2013 from North Royalton High School. Learning and understanding complex concepts, especially in the STEM arena, were never something that Adam found difficult. This is where he found challenge and success.

Over the summer of 2015, he bought a 1995 “classic” Mazda Miata that was in no way operational. He went in search of a ’95 as that was the year he was born. Although skeptical, his parents encouraged him to take on the project. There was very little Adam couldn’t do once he set his mind to it. He spent that summer learning about engines, troubleshooting and working on determining what was wrong with the car. In the end, he needed to entirely rebuild the engine of that car. He did this all independently with help only from internet search engines! He called both his parents out to see if the car would start after he finished. That is a memory they cherish. He confidently and proudly just turned the key and it started right up-no further repair needed! His family and friends were amazed and he enjoyed driving the car around the OSU campus proudly.

Giving back and volunteering was something Adam had shown his mother he was interested in at a young age. Starting in 4^th grade he would volunteer regularly at food pantry with his brother and mother. There, on a weekly basis, they would pack groceries into bags and help distribute them to people in need of help that visited the pantry weekly.

This food pantry in Cleveland is supplied with food from The Cleveland Food Bank, which was another place Adam volunteered. Adam continued volunteering and giving back throughout his short 21yr life. While attending The Ohio State University, Adam was very active with Buck-I-Serve. Through that wonderful OSU group, he took several trips with fellow Buckeyes to provide service to many different organizations. They traveled to several locations in the US over OSU breaks. Adam eventually became a group leader of a Buck-I-Serve trip in 2016, taking personal responsibility for all OSU students in his group for that volunteer trip.

He also volunteered at animal shelters, which were something near and dear to him-pets without homes. He especially LOVED dogs! He loved his dog Pepper-a black and white Maltese/Japanese Chin mix. He would send dog videos, photos and memes to family and friends he knew needed to be cheered up or given a reason to smile.

Throughout the summer of 2016, Adam was given the opportunity to work with Battelle. He loved this company and everyone he was working with there. He loved the research they were doing. He was grateful for the opportunity he received to participate and learn from these amazing employees as an intern. This company started back in 1929 and my understanding from what Adam shared with us was they are actively solving the world's most pressing issues with groundbreaking science and technology and focusing on giving back to their communities. There could not be a more perfect fit for our son. We are grateful to all he worked with there-for fueling his passion in his field.

We came to learn our son Adam was always the student others chose to come to rely on, for an explanation of anything in their Chemical Engineering and Mathematics classes. Adam’s classmate and friend shared a story after his passing which made his family and friends smile with the thought-how typically Adam. They went in to take their final together. The Professor allowed students to prepare two cheat sheets on which they could write any notes needed to help with one of CBE’s most difficult finals. His friend asked what he put on his cheat sheets. Adam showed him one piece of paper with only once sentence written on it. “Don’t mess up your 4.0!” That was exactly the sort of student Adam was. When his friend voiced concern he just shrugged and smiled. He was confident in his educational abilities and he enjoyed sharing that confidence by building others up and encouraging them. He even pushed to recruit his younger sister into the Chemical Engineering major at OSU, convinced she would share his passion for the field. He was someone who went above and beyond-always in everything. He would never be satisfied or ever just complete the minimum required to get by. He was the guy friends came to rely on-even roommates and friends when they came up short on cash. Adam would invite them to go get food, usually tacos and pick up the bill and also front them money for rent or bills when needed.

He was always available when a fellow student at OSU needed him. He enjoyed his time spent as a CBE Teaching Assistant. He gave freely his time to tutor those who needed extra help in a class. He was always the friend who would go out of his way to let you know he was there for you. He was easy to talk to and a good listener.

His future was bright and full of opportunity. His parents were certain that Adam would do amazing things to advance the field of Chemical Engineering and help make the world a better place. It is the hope of Adam’s parents, siblings, family and friends that the recipients of the scholarships pledge to give back. The recipients should be giving back by devoting their time to a cause they are passionate about. It’s essential this happen both inside and outside the classroom. The recipients should be helpful, kind to other students and encourage them as Adam did.

Adam’s parents and family could never be more proud of the way he chose to live his life. His parents, family and friends remain proud of him and he is greatly loved and missed. They are thankful to The Ohio State University, who chose to award Adam his Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics -Magna Cum Laude.

His posthumous degree was given to his family at graduation.

He touched and had such a positive impact on so many lives in such a short time! It is the hope of Adam’s family that his memorial scholarship recipients will carry that on and forward throughout their lives and help make our world a better place!