The Landscape Architecture Foundation recently announced the names of the students who were deemed the 2020 Olmstead Scholar recipients, joining the community of 805 others named since the program's inception in 2008.

Two independent juries of leaders in the landscape architecture profession selected the winners and finalists from a group of 48 master's and 37 undergraduate students who were nominated by their faculty for being exceptional student leaders.

Selected as the graduate 2020 LAF National Olmsted Scholar was Lys Divine Ndemeye, a master's student at the University of British Columbia. This honor brought her a $25,000 prize. "Divine sees the landscape as a key cultural marker and maker that can play a powerful role in spatial decolonization and empowering marginalized communities towards cultural affirmation and identity. She plans to continue daylighting African cultural landscapes to expand landscape architecture beyond the hegemonic Eurocentric way of operating and to promote the field to Indigenous and African-descent youths." 

 
David Hooper, an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is the undergraduate 2020 National Olmsted Scholar and winner of the $15,000 prize. "With a 10-year career as a photojournalist in the U.S. Navy, David has seen the power of artistic expression and design to transcend boundaries, boost morale, and bring people together. He hopes to use the award to explore ecological gardening as practical therapy for veterans who have experienced trauma to provide them with lifelong tools to heal themselves and the earth."

Also honored are six National Olmsted Scholar Finalists. The graduate finalists, who each receive a $5,000 award, are:
• Madalyn Baldwin, North Carolina State University
• Martin Egan, University of Colorado, Denver
• Robert Levinthal, University of Pennsylvania

The undergraduate finalists, who each receive a $3,000 award, are:
• Aaron Lewis, Iowa State University
• Jake Tiernan, The Pennsylvania State University
• Audrey Wilke, University of Maryland, College Park

Now in its thirteenth year, the LAF Olmsted Scholars Program recognizes leading landscape architecture students. It is made possible with support from: lead sponsor, The Toro Company and annual sponsors, Deeproot, HOK, IRONSMITH, LandDesign, OLIN, Sasaki, Thomas C. and Gerry D. Donnelly, Steven G. King, FASLA, and Bill Main, Hon. ASLA, with the promotion partner, American Society of Landscape Architects.

To see the full list of the 85 student leaders honored in LAF's 2020 Olmsted Scholars Program:

https://www.lafoundation.org/news/2020/06/2020-olmsted-scholars