Working in the paper industry has always appealed to Carissa Ashman.
Growing up in Kaukauna, Ashman often visited the former Paper Discover Center with her mother. Located inside the old Kimberly-Clark Atlas paper mill along the Fox River, the hands-on paper lab taught her how to make handmade paper. Her grandparents, who worked as machine operators at a former SCA facility in Neenah known as Essity for three decades, also sparked her interest in the industry.
Now, at 19, Ashman works as an intern with Thilmany mill in Kaukauna, helping with environmental compliance and coordinating cleanup efforts along the Fox River. Before the summer, she completed her first year at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, studying environmental engineering.
She said she isn’t exactly sure where her career will take her after graduation, but she knows she wants to keep working in the environmental engineering field. The paper industry remains appealing to her.
Ashman is also one of the first recipients of the Women in Forest Products Scholarship, aimed at encouraging more women to pursue careers in the paper and forest products industry, as Wisconsin looks to add more women working in its forest products and paper industry.
Nationwide, women made up 26.4% of the roughly 775,000 people who worked in the paper manufacturing and printing industry in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. At pulp, paper, and paperboard mills, they made up 14% of positions.
That’s what brought the Wisconsin Paper Council and Ahlstrom — a global Finnish company that produces specialty papers and packaging at five plants in Rhinelander, Mosinee, Kaukauna, De Pere and Stevens Point — gifted $20,000 to establish the program in 2023.
In 2024, Ashman received $1,000 from the program after graduating from Appleton East High School.
“I was very grateful,” she said. “I was going into my first year of college, and I really needed it.”
The scholarship was used to help pay for her college tuition. She said what was even more valuable was the internship opportunity she landed at the award-giving reception in 2024.
This May, Ahlstrom and the Wisconsin Paper Council awarded two additional scholarships. Isabelle Tibbits, an Oshkosh West High graduate who will attend UW-Green Bay this fall to study environmental science, received $1,000. The program also awarded its first $1,000 leadership scholarship to Laci Lemke, who now pursues her education at UW-Stevens Point and works as a full-time intern at Sustana, a De Pere-based paper mill.
“That was our first time being able to give out the leadership scholarship, which we’re really excited about,” said Mykaela Chaffin, communications and development analyst of the Wisconsin Paper Council.
Here is what you need to know about the scholarship program and how you can apply.
When can people start applying for these scholarships?
Applications for the 2026 scholarships will open in February next year, Chaffin said.
Who can apply, and how many will be awarded?
Each year, the program aims to award, at a minimum, a scholarship to support a young woman just out of high school who is entering the forest products labor force. It also hopes to award a scholarship for a woman already in the industry to pursue continuing education, Chaffin said.
She said the number of scholarships might vary based on donations and the applicant pool. The Wisconsin Paper Council encourages industrial contributions to keep the program sustainable.
What are the benefits beyond the money?
Ashman said the scholarship gave her not just financial support, but valuable networking opportunities that led to her internship.
Where can you find more information?
People will be able to learn more about the scholarship through the Women’s Fund for the Fox Valley Region, where the scholarship fund is housed.
More information is also available from Mykaela Chaffin of the Wisconsin Paper Council.
Zhen Wang is a business reporter for The Post-Crescent. Reach her with story tips and feedback at zwang@gannett.com or 920-993-7117.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: This 19-year-old is working in Wisconsin’s paper industry. Here’s how the industry is encouraging more women to join
Reporting by Zhen Wang, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
