I was a zooie all four years at Millbrook and a curator my senior year. One of my favorite memories is running through the trails and being immersed in the nature on campus.  I also took the elective Art History: Frank Lloyd Wright with Mr. Hardy my senior year. I learned so much in that class, traveling to Frank Lloyd Wright’s home in Arizona and putting together an exhibit at the end. Looking back, that was a full-on college level class, better than the art history courses I took in college. Mr. Hardy is one of those teachers whose impact continues. My CES project, a large succulent wall, was inspired by the Sc3 experience and focused on green design. I repurposed a window frame that I sourced at a local antique shop and filled it with 90 succulents. Then, I displayed it outside on the side of the Holbrook Arts Center, inspired by Lena Hardy’s (Class of 2013) outdoor presentation the year before. This really ended up being a sort of precursor to my career as a landscape architect. 

 

After Millbrook, I started out at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in their environmental design program and then transferred after my freshman year to Montana State University (MSU). Nature has always been an inspiration for my design. Now, I am back at UBC, combining my passions for the environment and design in a master’s degree program in landscape design. It’s a three-year program, and I have one more year to go. In this final year, I’ll be working on my thesis project, which will likely have to do with waterfront design or sea-level rise planning. My ultimate dream would be to work in Denmark, as I’m inspired by their design work.  When people think about landscape architecture, they think a lot about public parks and gardens. But landscape architects are mediators between the community and the city and conservationists and the environment. We are in a unique position to combine the values of different groups and embed those values into a design. Landscape architects do work closely with scientists and conservationists, and I really like that about this occupation. What I’m finding out with my degree—it’s a lot more than parks and gardens. 

 

Beginning in high school, my career goal was to improve the well-being and livability of cities through sustainability initiatives. Landscape architecture is so multi-faceted, and I want to focus on the environmental side of things like habitat restoration, sea-level rise, and rethinking conventional ways of addressing issues. The way that we’ve built cities, I think we’re realizing, especially after COVID and now with climate change, that we need to reconsider urban design. How can cities be more livable and sustainable through green spaces? Can there be habitat corridors within cities? How can green spaces benefit the community? 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE PUBLISHED ABOUT CHLOE IN THE SUMMER 2022 MILLBROOK MAGAZINE