Meet Trent Stuefen and 2025 Senior Exhibition project Terratus

This is one in a series of online interviews with MIAD seniors, who share their thoughts about their 2025 Senior Exhibition project and their MIAD education.

Trent Stuefen ’25 (Communication Design) is a President’s (Honor) List student from Sheboygan, Wis., who received a 2025 MIAD Alumni Senior Thesis Award.

What is your “elevator pitch” for your senior exhibition project?

“Terratus, pick up your path” is an app that encourages people to pick up litter and engage with their community through gamification and rewards while allowing them to see real change. People are able to see where litter is, track their progress and communicate with other volunteers. They can purchase rewards with points they have earned from volunteering and receive a care box with goods such as merch, pins and additional supplies.

Anything you’d like to share about yourself or MIAD?

If I hadn’t gone to MIAD, I’m not sure where I would have attended art school or if I would still be pursuing art and design. Overall, my experience at MIAD has been good. While it’s a smaller school … I appreciate the close communication with professors and the opportunity to connect with so many talented people. Every student has a unique talent or vision that they are able to push forward, and I’m grateful to be part of that community.

I’m [also] very honored to have received the scholarship from MIAD. I’ve been able to pursue my creative aspirations, and I’ve become the designer that I am today.

I am currently working at ADX Creative part time as a junior designer and will continue working at ADX over the summer. ADX is a small advertising/design agency that is super close to MIAD. My art director and creative director are both MIAD alumni.

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