Seven landscape architecture students earn ASLA Honor and Merit Awards

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Seven students in the Stuckeman School’s Department of Landscape Architecture at Penn State have earned recognition through the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Student Awards program. The organization’s Student Honor and Merit Award program is designed to be a collaborative effort between various ASLA chapters and landscape architecture programs throughout the country. The organization’s guidelines specify that the awards recognize students’ academic achievement, design competence and interpersonal skills through a body of their design work. Those students enrolled in Penn State’s top-ranked Bachelor of Landscape Architecture during the 2019-20 academic year to receive ASLA Honor Awards are Chen Chen, Anjelyque Easley and Gavin Figurelli. Fellow classmates Jiafeng Deng, Hannah Gomez and Oscar Wegbreit earned Merit Awards for their work.

“The annual ASLA Awards are...an opportunity for us to recognize ‘the best of the best’ students in our professional B.L.A. and M.L.A. programs.” —Eliza Pennypacker

Shengwei Tan, a student in the Master of Landscape Architecture program, was also recognized with a merit award. “The annual ASLA Awards are quite prestigious — an opportunity for us to recognize ‘the best of the best’ students in our professional B.L.A. and M.L.A. programs,” said Eliza Pennypacker, department head and professor of landscape architecture and Stuckeman Chair of Integrative Design. “While faculty nominate students for the competition, the final selection is conducted by a jury of practitioners who bring their professional perspectives into the final review. It’s truly a lifelong honor to be chosen as an ASLA Honor or Merit Award winner.” According to the ASLA Student Awards program guidelines, award nominees must be truly outstanding in their program and have demonstrated the highest level of academic scholarship and accomplishments in skills such as: responsiveness and willingness to work with others, self-motivation and responsibility, design abilities: exploration, discovery, synthesis and representation of landscape architecture design. Founded in 1899, ASLA is the professional association for landscape architects in the United States representing more than 15,000 members. ASLA’s mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication. education, and fellowship. The organization supports the development of research and continuing initiatives that enable practitioners to address the evolving challenges of landscape architectural practice.