CAPLA students earn top honors at AZASLA Awards Gala
CAPLA students were recognized with multiple awards at this year’s Arizona Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects Awards (AZASLA) Gala and Expo, highlighting student excellence and community-engaged design work.
Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) Student Excellence
Honor: Renee Peters
Merit: Ashley Danforth
Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) Student Excellence
Honor: Abigail Power, Ashley Limbaugh
Merit: Violet Dasse, Mia Ferring
General Design – Award of Excellence
Project title: Cycles of Renewal
Student: Abigail Power
Faculty Advisor: Kenneth Kokroko
General Design – Honor Award
Project title: Watermark’s Re-imagined Therapeutic Garden
Students: Elizabeth Allen, Jaden Barnum, Danielle Covey, Julia Esslinger
Faculty advisors: Bo Yang, Shujuan Li, Kenneth Kokroko, Sandra Bernal, Altaf Engineer
Power received the General Design Award of Excellence for her project, Cycles of Renewal, developed through a community-engaged studio focused on Navajo Technical University (NTU) in Crownpoint, New Mexico.
Her faculty advisor, Kokroko, felt that she was incredibly deserving of this award.
“It’s great to know that a talented and hardworking student like Abigail had her effort and amazing work recognized by the AZASLA awards jury,” he said. “Abigail really took the mission of the studio to heart, and it’s reflected in the quality of her work and in the care with which it is presented.”
The studio project, Designing for Hózhó – Reciprocity, Water, and Well-being at Navajo Technical University, brought together CAPLA students with partners from the University of New Mexico and NTU. The collaboration centered on developing a landscape master plan that integrates Indigenous knowledge with green infrastructure strategies to address environmental challenges and promote well-being.
Students engaged directly with the NTU community through workshops, site visits and collaborative design sessions, grounding their proposals in cultural values and place-based solutions. The work emphasizes Hózhó, a Diné concept of harmony and balance, as a guiding framework for sustainable and culturally responsive design.
Power described this work as an amazing education endeavor.
“Talking with the students and staff on the NTU campus proved to be some of the best moments of my student career,” she said. “How I see it, those moments – coming to understand a person’s particular experience and discovering ways to reflect it through the lens of landscape design – make all of the late nights worth it.”
Kokroko shared what it was like working with Power on this endeavor.
“Abigail is a thoughtful, innovative and talented designer. She is a driven and curious learner, as well as a kind and supportive classmate,” he said. “These qualities will serve Abigail well as a design practitioner and made for a fulfilling experience as her studio instructor.”
In addition to individual awards, a team of BLA students received a General Design Honor Award for Watermark’s Re-imagined Therapeutic Garden, a project designed for the Hacienda at the River retirement community in Tucson.
“I am so honored to have been a part of a group of women who are so talented and dedicated to their work,” Esslinger, a student on the team, said. “This project has allowed us to get a glimpse into what our future careers as landscape designers will look like, and the future could not look brighter!”
The project focused on enhancing residents’ connection to nature by activating the five senses, improving accessibility and supporting wayfinding in a therapeutic garden setting. Design elements include sensory planting palettes, accessible pathways and spaces for gathering and community engagement.
“This award is a good example of a student-led project working with a real client that has a positive impact on the community,” Yang, one of the faculty advisors for the project, said.
He said that the AZASLA received a record number of submissions this year, with more than 60 projects up for consideration.
“The team’s award highlights the quality of our program,” he said.
For students, the awards serve as both validation and motivation as they continue developing their design practice at CAPLA.
Limbaugh, recipient of the BLA Student Excellence Honor Award, shared how special this moment was for her.
“It affirmed my determination and curiosity in studio and my love for the process,” she said. “It means a lot to me and my belief in the importance of trying your best, but also learning to find the fun in each project because you never know where it will take you.”
Congratulations to all award winners!
