Turning creativity into a career

Katie Toepfer ’29, is grateful for the scholarships she has earned at the University of Cincinnati — and to the donors who funded them. She is especially thankful for the scholarship that arrived in the nick of time.

After landing a prestigious co-op with a Dallas architectural firm during her first year at UC, Toepfer experienced an unnerving reality-check: How would she manage financially in Dallas before getting her first paycheck?

“I was really stressed,” she recalls. “I didn’t know how I was going to pay for this. How am I going to eat? How am I going to pay rent? And then I got a significant scholarship. So it was such a huge blessing to allow me to cover my expenses during the first month of my co-op experience. Words cannot describe the amount of gratitude I feel!”

A communication design major in UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, Toepfer is supported by several scholarships.

“My family tries to live within our means, but college is so expensive,” she says. “Our savings fell short of what was needed to pay."

Toepfer learned about graphic design in sixth grade during a career exploration class in her hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. She loved art and was a skilled painter and photographer and she was excited to imagine how working in graphic design could challenge her artistic skills and creativity.

During her first year of high school, Toepfer started her own freelance design business after friends and family members began asking her to design logos for their businesses and other projects.

“Seeing how much my designs were able to change the trajectory of their ambitions solidified that communication design was the career for me,” she says.

While exploring schools of design, Toepfer and her parents discovered that UC had one of the finest design programs in the nation.

“The opportunity to get a world-class education for an affordable price — with five opportunities for paid job experiences through co-op before I even graduated — was a no brainer.”   

After just one year, DAAP has exceeded Toepfer’s expectations.

“A lot of people said it was going to be really hard and super challenging, and I remember thinking, ‘It’s art school, how bad can it possibly be?’ But it is indeed difficult. I’ve been challenged in ways I never could have imagined, and I’m so grateful for it.”

Her Dallas co-op was with Corgan, a leading architecture firm that also performs environmental graphic design. Her designs were chosen for two offices of a Fortune 500 Financial Institution as well as for a Southwest Airlines lobby display.

“These were incredible opportunities,” Toepfer says. “And I have four more co-ops to go.”

Toepfer has immersed herself in numerous organizations at UC, including DAAP Ambassadors, UC Self Defense Club and Bearcat Buddies. Through the Buddies program, she tutors each week at a local elementary school. She also maintains her freelance firm from high school, Wholeheartedness, “doing projects for people here and there.”

She is passionate about UC’s co-op program, and she aims to “go big” in her quest for a future co-op at a major design firm in New York or Chicago. “Co-op is a huge selling point for UC because it works and it’s real,” Toepfer says. “It’s built in and required for my major. I had a specific class to help me navigate the world of co-op. The way UC facilitates real-world opportunities; it’s not some imaginary concept that you might experience once while you’re a student. It’s something they believe in and help us to achieve. I have no fear about getting a job after graduation.”

Featured image at top: Katie Toepfer is a student in UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. Photo/UC Alumni Association