In high school Gabe Rivas ’16 studied industrial design for two years, and at Hamilton he created his own design-related major, but he made sure to build in time to take German.
“My interest in German stems from my affinity towards cars and industrial design. I really like German cars, and Germany is also a mecca of industrial design and architecture, so I knew that I wanted to study abroad there if the opportunity presented itself,” Rivas says. He spent a semester junior year at the University of Tübingen, and fell in love with everything German. He volunteered at as an English language tutor, and the experience blew him away. “I didn’t want to leave,” he says.
When he went back to Hamilton, he applied for a Fulbright Fellowship to teach English in the land of his favorite cars. Rivas got the award and is working in a high school in the small town of Hanau, outside of Frankfurt. As for post-fellowship plans, Rivas is considering grad school in Germany or jobs in the U.S. Long term, he wants to pursue a degree in industrial design or scene design.
At Hamilton Rivas created his own major through the interdisciplinary concentration. He combined courses in art, anthropology, art history and theatre to make a major he called Design, History and Culture. In it he examined the history and social relationship surrounding art, visual design and industrial design.
