Work hard, play well

Adam Wolshire starts his day with a quick bike ride into work at Lego's headquarters in Billund, Denmark.

With a hot chocolate - or "varm chokolade" - to get the creative juice flowing, he does some sketching before connecting with his team in Lego's Creative Play Lab and getting his hands on some Lego bricks.

It might sound like a child's dream scenario of adulthood, but it's how Wolshire is spending his semester, as part of the University of Cincinnati's cooperative education program (co-op).

The fourth-year UC industrial design student works at Lego, considered the world's largest toy manufacturer. The co-op job is a perfect fit for Wolshire, who has been tinkering with Lego bricks since he got his first set at 3 years old.

While co-op by nature is a paid career experience - "work" - play is central to the job. In fact, his official title is a Play Discovery Intern.

After all, "Lego" comes from the Danish phrase "leg godt," or "play well."

Bringing play to life

As a concept model designer, Wolshire works with Lego bricks daily.

As part of his co-op, Wolshire works with other designers to create innovative prototype models. "We are pushing the 'medium' of Lego rather than what is already established," he says.

Plays well with others

For Wolshire, staying plugged-in about what's happening in the world of Lego is a pretty exciting perk of the job. He knew weeks before the Feb. 25 announcement that Lego was releasing the company's biggest "Jurassic World" set to date - a massive Tyrannosaurus rex model fossil skeleton that stretches over three feet long.

"What is really nice is I am seeing projects that are potentially never going to come out, or it's coming out in three months," says Wolshire.

"The work at Lego is great. I am getting more sketching practice than I thought I would, and that's really beneficial for industrial designers," he adds. "One thing I really like about the Lego internship program is that they put us with designers and other interns from all over the world."

University of Cincinnati co-op

• 8,300 students from disciplines across the university participated (2023-24)
• $88.8 million in collective self-reported earnings (2023-24)
• $10,700 earned on average per student per semester (2023-24)
• 18% increase in wages from the last reported co-op data
• UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning offers co-op and internships for all students

Wolshire was inspired by the interdisciplinary work of collaborating with interns of varied backgrounds, like mathematics or design.

"One intern comes up with a really unique perspective that genuinely has me in awe," says Wolshire. "It's challenging me to think in new ways."

Wolshire came to Lego with experience from two other co-op experiences. His first was at industrial design firm ionVentus, based in Xenia, Ohio, offering his talents on small-scale manufacturing and prototyping projects. He then completed a co-op at furniture manufacturer Made de Madera, a company in Alcorcón, Spain, designing furniture for commercial use.

You could say co-op has taken him around the globe.

Traveling the globe for real-world experience

Cooperative education was invented at UC in 1906, and co-op continues to grow and evolve at UC today. Co-ops are paid, career-relevant work experiences that are built into the curriculum.

Continuing a legacy of play

Wolshire's love for Lego is matched only by his passion for space and all things Star Wars. In his second year at UC, Wolshire launched UC's Star Wars Club, organizing campus events and cultivating a community of fans.

"If you have seen just one of the Star Wars movies you can come and have a great time," says Wolshire.

He even designed and built his own custom Lego Jedi Vector.

As a toy-designing DAAP student with a love of Star Wars, Wolshire is continuing a legacy that runs deep in the college.

Star Wars toys designed by Mark Boudreaux, courtesy of Hasbro

Jim Swearingen (DAAP '72) brought Star Wars from the screen to the toybox as principal conceptual designer for Kenner's line of Star Wars toys from 1976-79. He went on to play a hand in toys like PlayDoh, Spirograph, Baby Alive, Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake. After Hasbro bought Kenner in 1992, Swearingen joined forces with colleagues and fellow DAAP grads Tom Osborne ('75) and Tim Effler ('74) to start their own company, which often specialized in licensed products from movies such as "Alien," "Jurassic Park," "Men in Black" and "Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man's Chest."

Mark Boudreaux (DAAP '78) began crafting Star Wars merchandise as a 21-year-old UC industrial design student when he landed a co-op job at Kenner Products in January 1977, with the original Star Wars movie coming out in May of that year. Boudreaux worked for Hasbro for over 40 years, eventually becoming senior principal designer. He designed every toy version of the Millennium Falcon for decades.

UC's ties to toy design and inventions stretch beyond Star Wars. The Magic 8 Ball, Easy Bake Oven, Little Tikes' Cozy Coupe and the Nerf ball were all created by alumni.

From toy icons of yesterday to the designers or tomorrow, UC students reach for the stars in a hands-on learning environment where they can find their dream jobs - and maybe even play professionally.

Beyond the classroom

UC invented cooperative education more than 100 years ago, and we continue to innovate all aspects of experience-based learning, including internships, service learning, virtual co-ops, community projects and industry partnerships.

Additional credits

Photos: Andrew Higley, unless otherwise noted
Digital design: Kerry Overstake
UC Marketing + Communications

Related Stories