Nine students from Southeast Michigan, Chicago and Brooklyn, New York, registered for “Placemaking through Landscape Design” a week-long summer camp organized by Lawrence Technological University, the Michigan Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, the City of Southfield and Southfield City Centre. The camp, which began July 17, aims to introduce BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and underserved students to landscape architecture and encourage them to consider the field as a career choice, says Terry Croad, AICP, ASLA and director of planning for the City of Southfield. “We also expose students to the various professions in which landscape architects work, such as the private, public and non-profit sectors as well as education and research,”
Students, working in teams, were tasked with designing a teen park at Carpenter Lake Nature Preserve off 10 Mile Road in Southfield. They learned how to identify the site’s opportunities and constraints, develop a schematic design to illustrate their concept or “big idea,” and create the design-development plan necessary for construction. On the afternoon of the last day, each team presented a site plan to a jury of professionals and their camp mates. Safety features, enhanced streams and ponds, accessibility for visitors with disabilities, multi-purpose sports areas and playgrounds, use of murals to provide noise reduction and local public art, solar panels to cover parking areas and generate electricity – these were some of the components of the teams’ design plans. A jury of professionals asked follow-up questions and noted novel attributes. “That is a charming design for birdwatching,” commented Joane Slusky, PLA, ASLA, ASID, a landscape architect and jury member.
This was the second year the camp was offered. Each year, organizers make affordability a priority. The $100 registration fee is made possible, in part, by the many professionals who volunteer their time. In addition, the Michigan Chapter ASLA Foundation provides two Diversity, Equity and Inclusion scholarships of $2,500 each to BIPOC students studying landscape architecture at Michigan State University or the University of Michigan. Aubrey Collins, a recent graduate of Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School, who plans to attend Purdue University, came to the camp already interested in pursuing a career in landscape architecture. “I wanted hands-on experience first,” he said.
Southfield is one of 12 locations across the state chosen to test a new solar-powered lighting system developed by APT Solar Solutions, an Ann Arbor-based start-up company. A 400-foot stretch of the City Centre Trail, southeast of Red Pole Park, is the proposed location for the high-powered illumination. Installation of the lighting system is expected this fall.
Men’s Bowling has competed in five national championship tournaments – and won for the first time this year. Early in the playoffs, the team was knocked into the “loser’s bracket,” explains Head Coach Jonathon Putti, a 1988 LTU graduate. That meant LTU had to beat enough teams to reestablish itself in the winner’s bracket. Because this was a double elimination tournament, the Blue Devils then had to beat the team that sent them to the loser’s bracket twice in order to clinch the title. “Trying to beat any team twice at that level is not easy,” Putti adds.
With 10 seconds to go in overtime play, the Women’s Lacrosse team beat Savannah College of Art and Design 16-15. Last year, the undefeated, number-one-ranked Blue Devils were expected to win the national championship. But a last-minute upset to Benedictine College ended that dream. This year, the team motto was “Unfinished Business” says Mary Ann Meltzer, associate athletic director and women’s lacrosse head coach. Winning the regular season and the conference tournament did not satisfy the players; they were determined to be national champs, she says, and this time they defeated SCAD. “Winning at home against a team we’d never beaten, there really are no words to describe it,’ Meltzer says. “To do it in overtime was that much better.”
MichiganWorks! is a state-wide workforce development system offering free career-development services for jobseekers, virtual workshops for those interested in expanding skills and, for students age 16-24, internship, tuition assistance, career planning and work-experience opportunities. Businesses can receive support for hiring, training, process improvements, and growth. Employers can take advantage of the Business Resource Network – free to join – and its “success coaches” who work one-on-one with employees to remedy personal challenges so workers can thrive at their jobs.
Southfield City Centre Advisory Board represents the businesses and institutions located in the City Centre. Together they work to promote the economic vitality and quality of life in the city. They also contribute individually through charitable works. “It’s important to the company as a whole to give back to the community that gives so much to us,” explains Brooke McNemar of Etkin Real Estate Solutions. Etkin, owner of Evergreen Atrium and Franklin Center, among other properties, supports Michigan Animal Rescue League, American Diabetes Association, Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation, Lighthouse, Brilliant Detroit, Zekelman Holocaust Center, Robert A. Schuele Scholarship, and Alzheimer’s Association-Michigan chapter.
Lawrence Technological University has cut the ribbon on a new robotics and factory automation laboratory that the companies that helped create it say is unique anywhere in the United States.
City of Southfield Planning Department and Lawrence Technological University (LTU) teamed up this summer to offer metro Detroit high school students an introduction to landscape architecture. The three-day camp welcomed students from seven area high schools, most of whom admitted at the start they knew little about the field. Yet, come the conclusion, their perspectives had changed dramatically. “I was surprised how broad the scope of landscape architecture is,” explained Rachael Andree, a student at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. “It’s basically everything that’s not buildings.”