Landscape Architecture Student Selected for National Award

The Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture (MLA/MSLA) is pleased to announce that first-year MLA student Zaria Wetzel has been selected as one of five students from across the nation to receive a 2023 Landscape Architecture Foundation Ignite Award. Congratulations, Zaria!

Launched in 2022 through the generous investment of 146 founding donors, the LAF Ignite is a multi-year scholarship-internship-mentorship program for BIPOC students. Each year, 3-5 students are selected through a competitive process to join the Ignite cohort. Zaria will receive a $30,000 scholarship as well as annual paid summer internships to explore different career paths within landscape architecture. In addition, she will be matched with a one-on-one professional mentor who will work with her until she completes her landscape architecture degree. Together with her fellow 2023 awardees, Zaria will also join Ignite's inaugural student cohort for peer-to-peer mentorship. 

A graduate of Towson University, Zaria holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and Studies with a concentration in policy and management. As an Ignite award recipient, Zaria hopes to draw attention to landscape architecture and its agency to help reshape and bring about new urban landscapes where underserved populations can access the benefits and spaces from which they have been historically barred. Later this month, she will join her fellow Ignite participants in a program kick off, which will include facilitated virtual meetings to assist them in preparing portfolios for the summer internship interview process. 

Based in Washington, D.C., LAF works to increase the influence and impact of landscape architects to create a more sustainable, just, and resilient future. For over 50 years, LAF has strengthened the discipline to meet environmental, social, and economic challenges; believing in the power of design to contribute to a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable world.