Industrial Design Student Selected for New Balance Internship

Industrial Design Senior Alexandra Grant (BsID ‘21) recently completed an intensive three-week Pensole internship/masterclass at New Balance headquarters in Boston. Within her BsID degree, Alexandra is currently completing a Concentration in Soft Goods.

Concentrations are just one of the things that make the Jefferson Industrial Design program unique. A Concentration is a sequence of three 3-credit courses taken in a specific area of industrial design that a student has interest in. Areas in which Concentrations are offered include: Soft Goods Design, Furniture Design, Lighting Design, Design for Healthcare, User Experience Design, and Design Visualization.

Associate Director of Undergraduate Industrial Design Mark Havens explains further: “One of the great things about Industrial Design as an occupation is that it’s so broad. Concentrations are a great way for students to gain a deep understanding of a specific area of the profession that interests them. The Concentration sequence is embedded in our standard curriculum which means that students get this additional level of expertise without needing to take any additional credits.

Alexandra was one of only 30 designers worldwide chosen for the New Balance opportunity and the only female. She says: “Everyone in the program was so motivated, we all spent 14 hours a day at New Balance learning everything we possibly could! The first few days were spent learning the specific Pensole way to draw our ideas and present them and the pace was fast – two to three times every day we’d give full-scale presentations of our development to the New Balance team. Very quickly, you got really good at presenting your work which is one of the things that I think really has helped me with my own work going forward.”

She continues: “The work ethic I learned in the Jefferson ID program was a huge benefit to me during the whole New Balance experience. I came in knowing not just how to work hard, but also how to work smart. That helped me get the maximum out of the opportunity. It was a great experience and I’ve gotten so many connections to the industry as a result.”