Trecia Cintrón named 2022 National Olmsted Scholar

Recent landscape architecture graduate Trecia Cintrón ’22 was named the undergraduate 2022 National Olmsted Scholar by the Landscape Architecture Foundation and received $15,000 in prize money. 

The Olmsted Scholars Program is the premier leadership recognition program for landscape architecture students. The LAF awards just two winners—one graduate and one undergraduate—each year. 

Born and raised in Northeastern Ohio, Cintrón has been engaged with efforts for social and racial justice since she was 14 years old. Participation in landscape architecture studios cemented Cintrón's understanding of the link between public health and environment, particularly as they relate to race and systemic negligence. She plans to use the award to further her current research which involves gathering health histories from families in Black and Hispanic communities that live adjacent to landfills and other contaminated sites along the Mississippi River to create an Environmental Injustice Atlas of the Midwest.

Now in its fifteenth year, the LAF Olmsted Scholars Program honors students with exceptional leadership potential who are using ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership to advance sustainable design and foster human and societal benefits. Two independent juries selected the winners and finalists from a group of 50 graduate and 39 undergraduate students nominated by their faculty for their exceptional leadership potential.

Last year while pursuing his landscape architecture master's degree, alumnus Harshat Verma '21 was selected as the graduate 2021 National Olmsted Scholar and recipient of the $25,000 prize.

by Knowlton School communications staff