Engineering and Architecture Students Tour Top City Firms
One of the benefits of visiting Gensler’s headquarters was seeing the world’s largest architecture firm’s newly designed offices on Montgomery Street in downtown San Francisco, said architecture major Jonathan Speth ’26.
“The design of their whole office was so thoughtful,” Speth said. “It was really fascinating to hear the perspective of the lead designer as we walked through the space. Not only seeing it, but being able to hear the thought process behind the design was incredibly cool.”
Gensler offers a full floor of choices to accommodate employees’ work styles, with multiple open areas for group meetings and smaller areas for individual tasks in “The Study” and “The Solarium.” At Gensler, where employees are in the office full-time, there are no assigned desks.
Speth was part of a group of 20 USF students who headed downtown Sept. 17 on an architecture and engineering trek with the Career Services Center.
The group also visited Cahill Contractors on California Street, the second largest women-owned business in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to the San Francisco Business Times. Cahill specializes in residential, education, civic, health care, and commercial construction.
“I learned more about the management side of construction, all the moving parts that are a part of a design firm, and of course internship opportunities,” said Meghan Strong ’26, also an architecture major.
“My favorite part was talking to all the professionals we met while on site and in the firm and hearing about their journeys on how they got to where they are,” Strong said.
Speth agreed, saying it was helpful to see career options at both firms.
“I was also excited to see Cahill and learn more about the contracting world, especially because having an education in architecture doesn't necessarily mean going into an architecture firm,” Speth said.
Stephanie Belfiore, assistant director of employer relationships at the Career Services Center, said there are many benefits to going on a career services trek, and she was excited to plan this one for students.
"Architecture is one of our fastest-growing majors, and engineering is an exciting new program at USF, so I was really compelled to plan this trek,” Belfiore said.
“With a newly designed office downtown, touring Gensler and speaking with such talented designers was an incredible opportunity. And last spring I met a Cahill project manager, Marcos Madrigal ’12, who is a USF architecture alum, so being able to visit an active project site and hear him talk to students about finding his career path in construction was so inspiring,” Belfiore said.
Last year, the Career Services Center led treks on tech, with students going to Google and NetApp, and gaming, with a visit to Discord and Ubisoft. The center offers treks each semester based on different industries. Find out more.
