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Before she joined Rootly, Giang Tran had never held a design job. Her experience came from coursework and side projects. Four months later, her work was on a billboard in New York's Times Square, and the University of Waterloo has now named her a 2025 Co-op Student of the Year. Congratulations, Giang.
The award goes to one student per faculty whose work term stands out for innovation and impact, across a co-op program that places thousands of students every year. Giang won it for the Faculty of Arts, on her very first work term.
We told the full story in January, when we introduced her as our first design intern: the two-month redesign of our on-call scheduling experience, the AI editor now used by over 1,000 engineers, the workflows that halved our marketing team's asset production. The short version is that we gave a first-time co-op student real customers and real decisions, and she built like she had been doing it for years.
"Since they were giving me a lot of ownership, I was able to shine and have a lot of creative space to execute my ideas," Giang said. "Being able to discuss these ideas with people in the office every day created an incredible environment for me to grow as an individual and as a collaborator."
What makes the win land is where she started. Giang moved from Vietnam to Canada on her own at 16 to chase a career in art and design. "During this time, I've tried to see how my art can have an impact across as many people and as many communities as possible," she said. A Times Square billboard is a fair down payment on that. Her goal now is to design tools that make people feel capable and creative in their daily work, and on the evidence of this year, she is well on her way.
Congratulations again, Giang. You showed every future intern here exactly what the bar looks like. If you want that kind of ownership early in your career, we are hiring. Take a look at our open roles.
