Student killed in crash

By Jeremy Herb, Allison Sundaram and Mary Georgevich

Nenveh Essa, a Santa Clara senior who dreamed of working for Disney when she graduated, died in a car crash on Friday in Milpitas. She was 21.

At 3:25 p.m. Friday afternoon, Essa was driving her aunt on Abel Street in Milpitas when a Ford Escape traveling southbound on the same street crossed over the raised median, crashing head-on into Essa's car.

Essa was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the other car and Essa's aunt only sustained minor injuries in the crash.

While the investigation is still ongoing, there was no preliminary evidence of drugs or alcohol being a factor in the crash, said Lt. Tom Borck, a Milpitas police spokesman.

A memorial service honoring Essa was held in downtown San Jose, Tuesday.

Thirty to 40 family members and friends attended the service at Chapel of Flowers.

Marta Chaskelmann, who worked with Essa, sang "Angel," by Sarah McLaughlin during the service, one of Essa's favorite songs.

As friends and family filed toward the front to pay their respects, they stopped to hug her parents. Her mother's cries could be heard throughout the chapel.

"I just want to think she's not gone," Essa's mother, Juliet, said. "It's hard because I don't have anybody else. She's my only daughter."

Juliet Essa said that Friday was her daughter's day off from work in the financial aid office. Essa said she needed the car to go to school and her mother asked Essa to pick up her aunt in Fremont afterward.

Essa decided to take the streets to her Milpitas home, her mother said, rather than navigate the gridlock on the freeway.

"She didn't like freeway traffic," her mother said.

The crash happened only a few blocks from Essa's home.

"My heart told me something when she couldn't answer her phone," Juliet Essa said. "She never kept me waiting."

'I want to give you a good life'

Essa was born in San Jose in 1985, after her parents emigrated from Iraq a decade earlier.

She attended Notre Dame High School in San Jose before coming to Santa Clara, but her mother had to take her by bus because she couldn't drive.

Her mother said Essa wanted to pay her back after she graduated, as thanks for allowing her to go to private school.

Juliet Essa said her daughter would tell her, " 'I have to make you like a queen. I want to give you a good life.' "

"Her and her mom were best friends," said Diane Joy Hughey, a high school friend.

Essa had a group of six friends at Notre Dame that went to different colleges, but remained close.

Natalie de Leon, who attends San Jose State University, said Essa "loved her friends a lot, and was willing to do any thing for them. She was always there to put a smile on my face and make me laugh."

Hughey, who also attends San Jose State, said they could depend on Essa.

"She was one of those people whose personality was contagious," Hughey said. "She loved life and wholeheartedly believed that we only lived once, and we might as well enjoy life as it is."

Colleague and friend

Essa commuted to Santa Clara from her Milpitas home and worked in the financial aid office during her time at the university.

Associate Director of Student Loans, Trista San Agustin, said Essa was one of the most dependable student workers in the financial aid office, and she was given more responsibility than normal student workers.

Katie Susemihl, who worked in the financial aid office for four years as assistant director of operations, said she couldn't recall Essa ever calling in sick.

"At one point or another she probably helped with every project," Susemihl said. "She wasn't just a work study student -- she was a friend, too."

Essa's mother said Essa always thought of her co-workers as friends, not bosses, and frequently spent time with them outside of the office.

Campus Ministry Director Jack Treacy, S.J., held a small prayer and reflection session in the financial aid office Monday.

Dedicated, determined

In the classroom, several of Essa's professors said she was a model student.

"Nenveh was absolutely a joy," her advisor and professor Suzanne Luttman said. Luttman was always impressed by her dedication. "She knew what she wanted."

Luttman said that even though there was emphasis in the department to choose a career as a certified public accountant, Essa wanted to make her own way in the corporate world.

Essa also took classes in the communication department, including with professor Christine Bachen.

Bachen said Essa was incredibly grounded and was very comfortable with who she was.

"(Essa) was working to become, not to achieve," Bachen said.

Sarah Janjua, a senior at Santa Clara who went to high school with Essa, said she was one of the most studious people she knew.

"I'd always tease her about always doing homework and being on top of school and she would always tell me to shut up, jokingly of course," Janjua said. "We'd keep joking about how she's all school and I was all sports and we needed to meet halfway and be perfect. I'd always tell her I wanted her smarts."

Wanted to work for Disney

When she wasn't at school or work, Essa often was in front of the television.

"She loved TV," Hughey said. "You couldn't call her during her favorite shows."

San Agustin said that Essa kept an excel spreadsheet of her TV shows, and she sometimes recorded three shows at the same time.

Essa particularly loved Disney, de Leon said. She hoped to work with them as an accountant, but her real dream was to write scripts for Disney.

Hughey said the two had made plans after they graduated.

"I was supposed to take her to all of the zoos in the world because I am a conservation biologist," Hughey said. "She was supposed to be my accountant. Nenveh was supposed to be all of our accountants."

Campus notified Monday

News of the tragedy spread through campus on Monday following an e-mail by Vice Provost for Student Life Jeanne Rosenberger.

University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., was out of the country this week, but Treacy said at Essa's service that Locaelli wished to pass his condolences on to her family and friends.

No memorial service on campus has been planned as of Wednesday. Treacy said it is up to Essa's parents to decide whether to have a service at the university.

Reporters Chris Furnari, Maggie Beidelman, Rachel Schwartz, Joe Doss-Antoun and design editor Jonathan McDonald contributed to this article. Contact The Santa Clara at (408) 554-4546.