The interior design department has taken steps to give students experience in their field by taking 19 students to the West Coast to see designers at work.
Students and faculty traveled to San Francisco to visit small and large design firms such as Gensler Architects, MBH architects, Gap Store Design, Gymboree store design and McCall Design Group.
Matthew Edmunds, an interior design professor who traveled with the students, said this trip is one of several aimed at showing students the real world of interior design.
Edmunds said during Fall Break, students traveled to Manhattan, and every summer students travel to Mexico, in order to gain experience and earn credit.
Edmunds said when planning the San Franciso trip, he was amazed at the positive feedback from the firms.
“Sometimes we were there for one to two hours and some of these people’s time is worth $400 to $500 per hour,” Edmunds said.
Katherine Wiltse, a sophomore interior design major who went on the trip, said through her experience, she decided she would rather work in a smaller firm.
She said there was a noticeable difference when visiting Gensler, one of the top-ranked firms in the country, and smaller firms.
“At the big firms, people are always constantly working and the credit goes to the firm, not the designer,” Wiltse said.
Wiltse said at the smaller firms, consisting of around 30 to 50 people, it seemed as if an individual’s work was more noticeable to the boss.
Missy Dazet, a junior interior design major who participated in both the Manhattan and San Francisco trips, said the trips help her determine what firms are interested in when graduating students enter the field.
She said she learned the interviewing process is not as difficult as she thought.
Dazet said even at the big firms, such as Gensler, the employees expressed they were young and in training at some point.
Dazet said she learned the most from the big firms because they are comprised of a lot of specialized areas.
She said her favorite firm was MBH Architects, a medium sized firm of about 75-100 employees.
“The trip gave me a broader perspective by seeing the real life experience,” Dazet said.
Dazet said what she has learned in the classroom, she could see directly applied at the firms.
Wiltse said the trip was reassuring because sometimes she questioned whether the projects she completed at school were applicable to the real world.
“Everything that interior design students do in the studios builds up to one big design and sometimes you question what you are doing, Wiltse said.
Wiltse said she realized she and other students already have the skills that professionals do, they just need the experience.
“The rest of our education comes in the field,” Wiltse said.
Edmonds said the Interior Design Department will continue to host trips to metropolitan areas, such as Manhattan, New York, and possible Chicago in order to provide students with the culture and experience of different cities in the United States.