Chapter Chat

Great Plains ASLA Chapter Members Enrich Bright Lights Camp

Art Thompson Jr., ASLA, works with middle school-aged children during the Bright Lights summer enrichment program.

Five Great Plains ASLA Chapter members participated in the 5th Annual “Designing My World” Bright Lights summer enrichment and career exploration camp. Twenty-four middle school-aged designers explored the design process for creating a shelter at the Pioneers Park Nature Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Each day the weeklong program focused on a different design profession and its interaction to produce conceptual site models. Past projects have included bike shelters and observation points around Lincoln.

Because each of the concepts grow out of the program and the site, each student group of four spent an intensive Tuesday selecting and analyzing a site for the shelter. They could select from a prairie, restored savanna, or wetland edge. The young designers learned about the natural history of those three ecosystems, the microclimate, soils and slope, views and access from Dr. Richard Sutton, ASLA, and Art Thompson Jr., ASLA. Sutton and Thompson organized Tuesday’s landscape architecture day during the weeklong session. Lynn Johnson, ASLA, who directs the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department, presented local examples of park work by landscape architects. Eric Casper, ASLA, from the Clark/Enersen Partners, and John Williams, ASLA, from Olsson Consulting, helped by fielding career questions and offering critical advice on the design team’s proposed solutions at the Friday charrette.

San Diego ASLA Raises Money for Community Projects
San Diego ASLA is hosting its Annual Golf Tournament on July 28, 2006, to benefit the 2007 ASLA Community Grant, a program that provides funds to local community and neighborhood groups, high schools, libraries, and other nonprofit groups. In addition, the chapter is also celebrating its 30th anniversary in San Diego this year.