Castro named National Olmsted Scholar Finalist

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BLA 5 student Viviana Castro was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) 2014 National Olmsted Scholar, the premier national award program for landscape architecture students. This program is highly competitive and there is one winner and three finalists for graduate and undergraduate students. The winners are selected from a pool of the top students of U.S. and Canadian Landscape Architecture programs.

An independent jury of leaders in the landscape architecture profession selected the winners and finalists from a group of 45 graduate and 30 undergraduate students who were nominated by their faculty for being exceptional student leaders. Now in its seventh year, the Olmsted Scholars Program recognizes and supports students with exceptional leadership potential who are using ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership to advance sustainable planning and design and foster human and societal benefits.

Castro will be graduating this May with a Bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture and a minor in urban and regional planning. She was born in Colombia and has had the opportunity to travel to many countries, which has inspired her to find different approaches to design, planning, and working with social and environmental concerns. She plans to engage landscape professionals in the U.S. to expand the profession through education and involvement in different communities, both in the U.S. and Latin America.

Castro and the other 2014 Olmsted Scholars will be recognized at a luncheon and special certificate ceremony at the LAF Annual Benefit, held in conjunction with the ASLA Annual Meeting in Denver in November.