Year in Review 2015-2016
Every spring semester, as I prepare to write a year in review, it takes me a bit of time to first remember everything that has happened in the past year. Obviously, this year, the big thing was the Toronto experience, and my honors portfolio fully covers that topic. There were some other (more positive) highlights: becoming a mentor to one of the industrial design freshmen, becoming an honors ambassador, accepting a summer co-op with Merrell and Wolverine WorldWide, having a successful end-of-year pop up shop and selling out of all 40 products, and (thinking all the way back to last summer) creating my own line of 3D printed jewelry. Like previous semesters, there’s this pattern of being involved in and around campus, and setting my own path. I was the first UC student to participate in the Toronto Experience, I will be the first UC student to work for Wolverine WorldWide and Merrell, and I’ve continued to get involved in leadership opportunities. This semester, in addition to applying to be an honors ambassador, I also became the LGBTQ student representative to a focus group that discussed issues presented to the board of trustees. I’ve always known that I work better when I constantly have things going on, and when I have a full list of work to do, so this pattern makes complete sense to me.
This year, I got two more co-op search processes under my belt, and made connections with employers at a wide range of companies including MHM Gear, REI, and Cole Haan. I’m excited to see what happens with my final two co-ops after Merrell, now that I’ve built these relationships. This spring semester has been my first semester seeing some of my friends outside of DAAP since fall of 2014, which gave me an opportunity to rebuild some old friendships, let others go, and put effort towards new ones. I’m especially excited about the mentoring program in DAAP, and I feel like my mentee is at a point where she’s comfortable coming to me with just about any question she could come up with, and we’ve been working on her portfolio quite a bit toward the end of the semester as she prepares for her first co-op.
This upcoming year will consist of a summer co-op in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a fall academic semester, and another spring co-op. After completing a year of two academic semesters and one not-so-stellar co-op semester, the piece of advice I would give myself would be to take full advantage of being away from campus. My co-op this summer is a pretty safe bet in terms of quality of housing and employment (which was quite the opposite in Toronto), so I want to make sure that I take full advantage of the spare time I have outside of work. Since I’m not constricted by what will fit into two checked bags, I’ve packed up my car with almost every art material I own, and I’m beyond excited for the possibilities when I combine that with free time and no homework.
In this past year, I think I really honed in on what I want to design, and what companies I want to work with before I graduate. While I enjoyed furniture design, I realized that my main passion lies with soft good design and footwear design. Before my sophomore year, I knew nothing about footwear design, and I wasn’t one of the students who drew shoes all day, so I never thought I would end up being a “shoe person”, but here we are. And that’s why I’m excited about working for Merrell. Unlike my co-op with Lands’ End, this co-op is more specific to colors and materials, so I’ll get to see a completely new side of footwear design, and I think that will be great for my career as an industrial designer.
One goal I have set for myself for the upcoming year is to sketch more. In DAAP, we are frequently assigned 50+ sketches per week, per professor, depending on the class. By the time those sketches are finished, it’s pretty unlikely to feel inspired to sketch for fun, especially when the voice in the back of your head keeps reminding you of the hours of additional homework you still need to complete. Knowing that this year I’ll have two co-op semesters, and a lot more free time, I want to make sure that I get back into sketching for fun and sketching things that interest me, not always just sketching for a project or an assignment.
This year, I got two more co-op search processes under my belt, and made connections with employers at a wide range of companies including MHM Gear, REI, and Cole Haan. I’m excited to see what happens with my final two co-ops after Merrell, now that I’ve built these relationships. This spring semester has been my first semester seeing some of my friends outside of DAAP since fall of 2014, which gave me an opportunity to rebuild some old friendships, let others go, and put effort towards new ones. I’m especially excited about the mentoring program in DAAP, and I feel like my mentee is at a point where she’s comfortable coming to me with just about any question she could come up with, and we’ve been working on her portfolio quite a bit toward the end of the semester as she prepares for her first co-op.
This upcoming year will consist of a summer co-op in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a fall academic semester, and another spring co-op. After completing a year of two academic semesters and one not-so-stellar co-op semester, the piece of advice I would give myself would be to take full advantage of being away from campus. My co-op this summer is a pretty safe bet in terms of quality of housing and employment (which was quite the opposite in Toronto), so I want to make sure that I take full advantage of the spare time I have outside of work. Since I’m not constricted by what will fit into two checked bags, I’ve packed up my car with almost every art material I own, and I’m beyond excited for the possibilities when I combine that with free time and no homework.
In this past year, I think I really honed in on what I want to design, and what companies I want to work with before I graduate. While I enjoyed furniture design, I realized that my main passion lies with soft good design and footwear design. Before my sophomore year, I knew nothing about footwear design, and I wasn’t one of the students who drew shoes all day, so I never thought I would end up being a “shoe person”, but here we are. And that’s why I’m excited about working for Merrell. Unlike my co-op with Lands’ End, this co-op is more specific to colors and materials, so I’ll get to see a completely new side of footwear design, and I think that will be great for my career as an industrial designer.
One goal I have set for myself for the upcoming year is to sketch more. In DAAP, we are frequently assigned 50+ sketches per week, per professor, depending on the class. By the time those sketches are finished, it’s pretty unlikely to feel inspired to sketch for fun, especially when the voice in the back of your head keeps reminding you of the hours of additional homework you still need to complete. Knowing that this year I’ll have two co-op semesters, and a lot more free time, I want to make sure that I get back into sketching for fun and sketching things that interest me, not always just sketching for a project or an assignment.