A University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point May 2024 graduate will move to Orlando, Fla., next month to pursue her dream design job at the happiest place on Earth.
Emmy DeBruin, Appleton, secured an internship with Walt Disney Imagineering before earning her bachelor’s degree in interior architecture on May 18. The position as a show set designer may turn into a full-time job after six months, she said. DeBruin will work on designs for Disney theme parks, including rides, restaurants, food carts and other sets. Her office will be just outside the EPCOT theme park.
“When I was offered the job over the phone, I had to mute the call so I could scream,” said DeBruin. “I’m extremely excited and eager to take this opportunity and run with it.”
It’s an opportunity that DeBruin could not have predicted as she finished high school and planned to study health care. Still unsure, she took a gap year to think about her options and decided to attend UW-Stevens Point in the fall of 2020. She chose a major in interior architecture because she had enjoyed taking it in high school.
Even though she started with online courses because of COVID-19, DeBruin found her classes in interior architecture to be immersive right away, she said. From mini projects to class presentations with judges, the program provides students with the experience and portfolio projects needed to earn professional jobs and clientele.
DeBruin partnered with classmate Ashley Mauhar to create this office design for the Steelcase Design Competition.
“The program provides a happy and positive environment for students,” she said. “Even when we had online classes, our professors were flexible and met with us one-on-one. You get to know them on a personal level. With small classes and the same classmates, we all become close.”
With a minor in business administration, DeBruin also took classes that gave her skills in sales, presentations and project management. Her mentors include Lee Burke, a business instructor and career coach who taught her Strategic Career Planning Seminar course, and Aaron Kadoch, an associate professor in interior architecture and her instructor since her first year.
“Emmy and I stayed connected as she prepared for her summer internship,” Burke said. “It has been great to watch Emmy grow in her career development journey at UWSP. I know she’ll accomplish wonderful things at Disney!”
“Emmy came into interior architecture with raw creativity,” said Kadoch. “We can’t really teach that, but we can refine it and pair it with the functionality and technology needed to create meaningful spaces, as well as teach our students how to communicate their creativity.”
Students in the interior architecture program are also taught to work with a variety of media, he said, including hand drawing, sculpture, 3D, woodworking, hand and computer drafting and computer modeling. These skills help students fit into the wide range of design professions, Kadoch said, and are perfect for a job in Disney Imagineering.
“The design industry is project based,” he said. “Projects may be big or small, but they are never stagnant – there is always a new one on the horizon. It offers a nice rhythm, which is perfect for a creative person like Emmy.”
In addition to building a portfolio that is presented at the end of sophomore year and again at the end of the senior year, students in interior architecture must complete an external internship before graduation.
DeBruin served her internship with AOA in Orlando for three months last summer. The design firm specializes in commercial design, contracting with restaurants, bars, clubs and other venues. She helped on projects that had her choosing barstools, lighting fixtures and wall colors as well as learning new software programs that created computer-generated models of properties.
One of her favorite projects was designing for a National Basketball Association stadium. For another she created lighting for an oceanside bar in Daytona Beach and worked with the Department of Natural Resources to make sure there were no adverse effects for the local sea turtles. She also helped create a sustainable garden for the design firm, using solar light and rainwater.
“I realized how much I loved commercial design,” she said. “I hadn’t known much about the entertainment design industry before, but that experience completely changed me. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
At the end of the internship, she had to present her portfolio to AOA employees. It was at that presentation that she met a Disney imagineer who encouraged her to apply for an internship with Disney after graduation. After doing so, her contacts with Disney said they would call her back for what she thought would be an interview. Instead, they offered her the job.
As she prepares for her move to Orlando, DeBruin is looking forward to networking with other designers and meeting new people, as well as living an hour from the beach. Her family members, which includes her parents and five siblings (including two sets of twins), are excited to visit.
“I’m in a really good place because of my education at UWSP,” DeBruin said. “I feel well prepared and ready to jump into this new role.”