San Francisco - The Final Co-Op!
Our son Brett is in the Industrial Design program of DAAP at the University of Cincinnati. Brett has had quite the education adventure as he has pursued his degree. The program involves 5 co-op work semesters (one did not occur due to the Covid pandemic) alternating with semesters in class. He has worked in Irvine, Indianapolis, Providence and finally this stop, San Francisco. He told us he has always had the goal to work for one of the several fine Industrial Design firms in San Francisco and he reached that goal with a firm he really hoped to work for. He really enjoyed the people he worked with and valued their contribution to his growth as an Industrial Designer. In addition to these work assignments across the country he also spent a semester in 2022 studying abroad in Berlin, Germany. All of this to say I could not be more proud of Brett as he now prepares for his final semester of school. I also owe a lot to Brett and his school program to taking Michelle and I to these various locations. We had actually been to all of the locations in the United States on previous family vacations, but we really enjoyed going back and seeing them again. We had real hesitations when Brett wanted to study abroad but looking back I am so thankful he did. He really expanded his horizons and my family’s as well. I have since enjoyed a second trip this year (2023) to Europe – needless to say I have the European travel bug now 😁.
In recent years downtown San Francisco has seen difficult times with increased homelessness. Brett’s work was downtown while he stayed in a neighborhood to the Northwest. I pray that change occurs in the city and that the homelessness crisis can be addressed over time. Many people are react negatively when I mention that Brett worked in San Francisco but I do want to say that outside of this troubled area of the city, it is still a beautiful city as I remember it from vacations decades earlier. We spent a week in the city in August as we moved Brett out there.
We visited a number of locations, took a bike tour and sought out the local coffee shops as we always do when we travel. I will note that we really liked Jane on Fillmore and near Brett’s work, Sightglass Coffee (we had no idea that 6 years earlier in 2017 when we happened to stop at this same Sightglass that Brett would stop by 6 years later nearly everyday for his mid day coffee break!)
Below are a few more pictures from the trip. In the end Brett had a fantastic time in the city, met a number of designers in his field, and learned a tremendous amount from his co-op. I thought maybe we would make it back out a second time to visit him during his time there (August – December 2023) but it just did not work out. In October, Michelle and I took a big trip with her two best childhood friends back over to Europe. We visited Rome. Florence, the Amalfi Coast and Paris, France – we had an incredible trip (I need to get that trip added to this site soon!).
Thanks for everything San Francisco!
