By: Kyle Niblett (April 28, 2022)
University of Florida Landscape Architecture students Adriel Jimenez, Najla Said Lopez and Weishunhua Zhang took home a total of $20,000 in scholarships from the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF), the organization announced this past week. The scholarships support the next generation of designers by rewarding superior student performance, supporting access and diversity, supporting original research, and assisting students with unmet financial need.
Jimenez received the $5,000 Landscape Forms Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Scholarship, which helps Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students advance in their education and career in landscape architecture. The scholarship was established as a small but meaningful step toward achieving Landscape’s vision of a just and diverse community.
Fellow BLA candidate Najla Said Lopez was awarded the $5,000 Landscape Forms Scholarship in Memory of Peter Lindsay Schaudt by demonstrating passion, commitment, and competence in creating artfully designed places for people. She was also the recipient of the $5,000 EDSA Diversity Scholarship, which helps African American, Hispanic, Native American and minority students of other cultural and ethnic backgrounds continue their landscape architecture education.
Zhang, a graduate student at DCP, received the $5,000 American Society of Landscape Architects Florida Chapter Career Discovery Scholarship for exemplifying the ideals of landscape architecture in scholarship, service, and ethics.