LACF Congratulates the 2021 Scholarship Recipients
LACF hosted our annual scholars recognition event on February 11, 2022. Watch this presentation to learn more about each scholar and their achievements.
National Scholarship Recipients
Learn more about Kendra Scanlon, recipient of the Frederick Gage Todd National Scholarship, and Naomi Ratte, recipient of the Peter-Jacobs Indigenous Scholarship
Regional Scholarship Recipients
Canadian Landscape Charter / University of Calgary / LACF Scholarship: Heather Hillson
Heather Hillson is an aspiring landscape architect currently finishing her master’s degree year and working at Fathom Studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has a background in archaeology and anthropology, with a Master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh. She is committed to working on multi-disciplinary design teams to tackle the pressing issues of today, including stormwater management, urban revitalization, and smart streetscapes. Originally from Colorado, she is a tri-citizen of Canada, the USA, and the UK. In her free time, she loves backpacking with her family and painting watercolours of landscapes.
Atlantic Landscape / Dalhousie Scholarship: Bruce Nang
Having arrived in Canada from Mauritius in 2018, Bruce is grateful for the opportunities Nova Scotia has offered him. During his first three summers, he studied Cary Vollick’s designs while working as a landscape gardener. His interest in aesthetics, flora, and environmental issues naturally paved his path to landscape architecture. He is inspired by the potential that the profession holds to address climate change whilst designing meaningful spaces for people to connect with their environment. He aims to work in the Maritimes by applying sensitive approaches when creating designs supporting natural ecosystems and healthy communities.
Scholarship for the 50th anniversary of the AAPQ: Guillaume Archambault-Lelièvre
Following training in contemporary dance completed in 2015, Guillaume reoriented himself towards the field of planning. He first obtained a bachelor's degree in urban planning from the University of Montreal in 2019 before pursuing graduate studies in landscape architecture. Guillaume is primarily interested in the design of public shoreline projects as well as the intersection of infrastructure and landscape concepts. At the end of a six-year academic career, Guillaume is proud to receive the AAPQ 50th anniversary scholarship offered by the Landscape Architecture Foundation, which represents for him an important recognition of the work accomplished over the past years.
LACF University of Guelph BLA: Holly MacAlpine
Holly McAlpine was born and raised in Newmarket, ON and is currently in her fourth year of the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Guelph. Her love for nature and design started when she was very young, making landscape architecture a clear career path. She was drawn to this profession as there are endless opportunities domestically and globally with the increase in environmental issues and societal needs. Landscape architecture allows her to deeply understand how we interact with the environment, and how she can contribute to improving people’s health and wellbeing, and the environment through design. Trends that interest her include environmental conservation, site rehabilitation, historic preservation, and park design.
LACF University of Guelph MLA: Matthew Canaran
After beginning his career in software as a user experience designer, Matt decided to redirect his skills towards designing the physical world. In 2019, Matt started his MLA journey at the University of Guelph. That same year, he started a business in landscape design which has steadily grown over the years. Through his work, Matt seeks to share the richness and diversity of the world with those around him.
LACF Alain Lamontagne (Guelph BLA): Yumeng Sun
Yumeng Sun is a fourth-year BLA student studying at the University of Guelph, studying landscape architecture not only for her love of art and nature but also because of the many environmental and social issues with which humans must contend. To accommodate the advancement of technology and rise in people's standard of living, sustainable and innovative designs are required along with knowledge on environmental protection and she is interested in exploring the relationship of social spaces with how they impact the wellbeing of humans.
LACF University of Toronto MLA: Stefan Herda
Growing up exploring the deep ravines of Scarborough, Stefan nurtured a curiosity for botanical knowledge and land-based learning that blossomed into a career in the visual arts. After 9 years of maintaining an independent art practice, pursuing a degree in landscape architecture allowed Stefan to redirect his interest in ecological processes into collaborative community projects. Stefan’s enthusiasm for traditional ecological knowledge, land stewardship and cultivating landscape literacy continue to inform his research and extra curricular interests. Stefan is both grateful and humbled by the support of his peers and mentors at the Daniels Faculty and excited for the journey ahead.
Andre Schwabenbauer / University of Manitoba MLA Scholarship: Michaela Peyson
Michaela Peyson (she/her/hers) is a woman of colour of Caribbean descent. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in landscape architecture at the University of Manitoba with the aim to amplify new voices and collaborate with diverse perspectives. This resurgence through a social equity lens is evident through her practicum research, which focuses on revealing Afro-Caribbean narratives within Canada’s landscapes. This award will allow her to continue pursuing her passion for the field with a commitment to creating a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable future to help humans remain connected in spaces of difference.
LACF University of Calgary MLA: Zoë Crandall
Zoë Crandall is a Master of Landscape Architecture candidate at SAPL. Along with her studies, she works as a junior landscape designer at George Harris Collaborative Inc. and as a graduate research assistant at the University of Calgary. An ecologist, humanist, and artist, Zoë seeks to comprehend the complex ecological interactions in the urban landscape and communicate them in accessible and fun ways. She is passionate about environmental justice and education and has volunteered as an author, researcher, and graphic designer for the Elbow River Watershed Partnership, and the Scarboro Historical Society.
LACF / UBC Scholarship in Landscape Architecture: Nicole Dulong
Nicole was born in Tkaronto, on Treaty 13 territory and is an uninvited guest and settler on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh lands. She is a creative and a conservationist at heart, having spent the last decade immersed in whole systems design before ultimately transitioning to landscape architecture. For Nicole, the profession holds a unique capacity to address humanity’s most challenging social, infrastructural, and ecological issues. Presently, she is interested in ‘landscape as infrastructure’ for coastal adaptation and de-colonial design strategies alongside Reece Milton and Samantha Miller. She is incredibly grateful for the recognition, and this award will support and encourage her future pursuits.
BCSLA Robillard / LACF Scholarship in Landscape Architecture: Jingzhou Sun
With an undergrad in architecture, Jingzhou came to landscape architecture to explore the potential of the fabric on which architecture exists and he has been ever since constantly amazed by the impact landscape architecture has on subjects from global climate crisis to the smallest scaled designs around us. With this scholarship, he finds more motivation to explore further the conceptual and theoretical questions in landscape and apply those inquisitions to small scaled designs to create better spaces for people and for the environment.
SALA Academic Award: Smile Singh
Coming from a background in architecture, Smile went into landscape architecture to find the missing link which connects architecture and the environment. She worked for a landscape architecture firm to understand more about the discipline before starting her MLA degree at the University of Manitoba. She believes that finding connections between community and nature plays an important role in her designs. Her research will focus on the revival of Anthropogenic mining landscapes in the Prairie region and prioritizing the survival of fragile ecosystems by means of landscape architecture. She is honored and grateful to receive this award, this recognition motivates her to work hard and continue to gain more knowledge in this vast field.
Peter Klynstra Memorial Scholarship: Caitlyn Weir
Caitlyn Weir has been settled in Nova Scotia for a decade and is now enrolled in the second year of the MLA program at the University of Guelph. They come highly recommended for the scholarship for their mature and professional approach to graduate studies and the leadership they demonstrated within their program. They have engaged in extra-curricular and work activities that complement their studies, and they are an excellent student. Their thesis work will focus on coastal management in the Maritimes.