Congratulations to our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
LAF has awarded a total of $84,000 to 14 outstanding students for its 2019 scholarship season. These scholarships reward superior student performance, encourage diversity, support original research, and assist students with unmet financial need.
Scroll through to see bios and photos of these deserving students.
In the fall, LAF will announce its scholarships available for the 2019-2020 academic year and begin accepting applications. Applications are due Feb 1 with the winners announced in the spring.
These awards are made possible through funds established by our generous sponsors.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
LAF Honor Scholarship for Inclusive Community Design
Award: $10,000
Whitney Barr
MLA Candidate, University of Georgia
Whitney, a native of Columbia, SC, holds a BA in English Language and Literature and a minor in Korean from Spelman College. She has worked as a researcher, global sales airline analyst, and most recently a digital marketer within the local Atlanta food space. Whitney’s love for food as medicine led her to the source of all good food: good gardens. She is interested in landscapes that feed the mind and body through the intersection of sustainable design and agriculture within Black and Brown communities. Post-graduation, she plans to work in the public sector and in the long term, become a social entrepreneur of a landscape design and consulting company dedicated to inclusive design and edible landscapes.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
LAF Honor Scholarship in Memory of Joe Lalli, FASLA
Award: $20,000
Madelyn Hoagland-Hanson
MLA Candidate, University of Virginia
Born and raised in the city of Philadelphia, Madeyln has a background in outdoor conservation and non-profit work, and received her undergraduate degree in English literature from Haverford College. Her research interests include cultural ideas of wilderness and wildness, the aesthetic and imaginative potential of waste spaces, theories of animals, animality, and wildlife, and the fuzzily defined intersection between literature and landscape. Her Master’s thesis project examines the complex human (and non-human) history of the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. and imagines a speculative future for its grounds.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
Courtland Paul Scholarship
Award: $2,500
Selah Sanchez
BSLA Candidate, Cal Poly Pomona
Selah has always had an eye for design and believes that landscape architecture is the perfect blend of creativity and the technical. Pursuing her degree has challenged her in ways that can be applied to any form of design. She wants to put her skills to use in designing residential landscapes and would also like to become licensed in interior design. One day she plans to start her own business designing both the interior and exterior of homes in order to create cohesive space.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
EDSA Minority Scholarship
Award: $5,000
Farre Nixon
MARCH/MLA Candidate, University of Pennsylvania
Farre has always been fascinated by the built environment. As a kid growing up in Houston, she preferred Legos over Barbies and SimCity over Super Mario. She is interested in a wide range of topics including resilient design optimized by nature (biomimetics) and architecture for extreme environments like the Arctic or outer space. Her goal is to practice as an artist and designer, tackling ecological challenges exacerbated by poorly-built environments on the domestic, municipal, and regional scales. Ultimately, she plans to open a design consultancy and think tank from which to do so.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
Peridian International, Inc./Rae L. Price, FASLA Scholarship
Award: $5,000
Mary Rasmussen
Certificate in Landscape Architecture Candidate, UCLA Extension
Mary grew up on the farmlands of Iowa but spent most of her life in large cities. An owner and operator of her own businesses, former flight attendant, and mother of two, Mary chose landscape architecture as her next career path. She would like to create colorful spaces in urban communities and hopes to design projects that she can leave behind for future generations.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
Steven G. King Play Environments Scholarship
Award: $5,000
Lauren Iversen
MLA Candidate, University of Washington
Lauren found her passion for landscape architecture by spending time camping with her family in Iowa as a child and later exploring backcountry wilderness via heavy backpack and dehydrated dinners. Her future career is motivated by a strong belief in social and environmental justice and the power of gardens in the treatment of the mentally ill. While her professional dream is to positively impact the lives of communities with landscapes, her personal dreams include owning at least 3 golden retrievers at once and learning how to properly layer when bike commuting as to not end up a sweaty mess.
Congratulations to our 2019 scholarship winners!
Landscape Forms Scholarship in Memory of Peter Schaudt, FASLA
Award: $5,000
Guadalupe Rodriguez
BSLA Candidate, Cal Poly Pomona
Always the girl that goes over the top doing more than what is asked, Guadalupe enjoys competition, challenges, and adventures. From an early age, becoming an architect was her “big dream”. As a first-generation college student, she says that getting a higher education sometimes seems like a destination with no path, but she will keep going towards her dream. She would like to use landscape architecture as a way to educate kids about their surroundings and natural resources.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
Rain Bird Intelligent Use of Water™ Scholarship
Award: $2,500
Breanna Stoll
BSLA Candidate, Colorado State University
Born and raised in Southern California, Breanna completed 2.5 years in the Landscape Architecture program at Cal Poly Pomona before relocating to Denver, Colorado. She has always had a passion for plants, design, and the environment. She hopes to one day work for a landscape architecture firm that will allow her to create public spaces that enhance local communities and wildlife. Beyond design, she loves to travel and spend time as much time as possible with her husband and dogs (when not attending class or feverishly working at a computer).
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
ASLA-NY Designing in the Public Realm Scholarship
Award: $5,000
Anna Speidel
MLA Candidate, City College of New York
Anna holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the University of Vermont and is interested in designing for social and environmental justice. Through her work, she has explored contaminated landscapes, looking at the unique social conditions and decision-making processes that shaped them. Anna pursued this topic through a Landscape Fellowship at the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, working on the Lowlands Masterplan to interpret years of community input and citizen visioning to identify key components of the design. She is currently interning at Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and plans to continue work in the New York City area after graduation in May 2019.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
ASLA Council of Fellows Scholarships
Award: $5,000 + travel to ASLA Conference
Darby Buckley
BLA Candidate, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Darby has a passion for the outdoor environment and collaboration with community and end-users. She is heavily involved in her school's ASLA Student Chapter and has participated in numerous volunteer projects and activities throughout her time on campus and in the local community. Her future plans include gaining experience and knowledge in landscape architecture, pursuing creative design opportunities, and eventually opening her own design firm that explores urban environments. She also loves comic books, the outdoors, and spending time with family and friends.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
ASLA Council of Fellows Scholarships
Award: $5,000 + travel to ASLA Conference
Eddy Gonzalez
BSLA Candidate, Cal Poly Pomona
Eddy grew up in a household of seven: two grandparents, two parents, an older brother, and a twin sister. He and his siblings are US citizens while his other family members came from Mexico. After he completes his undergraduate program, he plans to work part-time while pursuing a master’s degree. He enjoys helping others as much as he can in whatever way he can, playing with his dogs, and most importantly spending time with his family. His hobbies include research and executing healthy life choices such as nutrition and fitness.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
ASLA Council of Fellows Scholarships
Award: $5,000 + travel to ASLA Conference
James Ryan
MLA Candidate, Kansas State University
James is a third year student in KSU’s non-baccalaureate master’s program. In his free time, he plays the tenor saxophone at KSU and professionally around the Midwest with various bands, playing everything from jazz to pop-tune covers. He is also very passionate about disc golf. As a member of the Professional Disc Golf Association and various local groups, he plays to get exercise and enjoy nature. He hopes to travel the world one day as a landscape architect in order to grow the sport and elevate the standards of disc golf course design.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
ASLA Council of Fellows Scholarships
Award: $5,000 + travel to ASLA Conference
Nancy Gandarilla Valenzuela
BLA Candidate, Texas A&M University
Nancy is deeply passionate about serving disadvantaged communities and restoring the environment. She is especially interested in working with disenfranchised indigenous groups like the Tarahumara people. Nancy has actively participated in research throughout her academic career and is currently helping to conduct research on Mexico, This is fitting, as her culture is something she holds dear, and she has been inspired by the vibrancy of it. She draws on this inspiration throughout her designs and hopes to one day work on a project in Mexico.
Congratulations to Our 2019 Scholarship Winners!
Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship in Garden History and Design
Award: $4,000
Lizabeth Wardzinski
PhD in Design Candidate, North Carolina State University
Lizabeth’s academic background is varied and diverse. As an undergraduate student, she studied literature, journalism, and studio art. She completed a Master's of Architecture and practiced for six years before deciding to continue her education. Her PhD research focuses on the New Deal and post-war architecture and planning in the United States. As a doctoral student, she has worked as a teaching assistant of history courses in architecture and industrial design as well as independently taught architecture studios. She hopes to continue to make an effort to always engage in learning about the human existence and share this in her future career in the academic world of design.
Each year, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) offers over $80,000 through 11 different scholarships and fellowships.
LAF scholarships help diversify the pool of talent and increase academic opportunity for new generations of designers. These awards are made possible through funds established by our generous sponsors.
Each academic year, available scholarships are announced in October with all applications materials due February 1. Eligible candidates are undergraduate or graduate students enrolled at colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. Additional requirements vary by scholarship.
The average student debt load for landscape architecture graduates is $34,000.
To date, the Landscape Architecture Foundation has awarded $1.5 million to over 580 students.
