Catharine McCord (MLA 2017), an adult program coordinator with the Denver Botanic Gardens, designed a sensory garden for the Sewall Child Development Center and REACH Charter Elementary School campus, as part of her thesis under the direction of Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture Jody Beck in spring 2017. She helped write the grant and present the proposal to the board of the Colorado Garden Foundation for the $75,000 grant it awarded to construct the sensory garden on a currently underutilized portion of Sewall’s lot at 940 Fillmore Street. The garden was planted on October 15, 2017, and has garnered great media attention. Read the article in The Denver Post, “Congress Park school gets a sensory garden in Denver,” and watch Jody in the video “Denver sensory garden planted to help special needs kids” on 9News on October 15.

Catherine was named one of six National Olmsted Scholar Finalists by the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF). This is the premier national award and recognition program for landscape architecture students. Catharine received $1,000 and was formally recognized with a certificate ceremony at the Olmsted Scholar Luncheon and the LAF Annual Benefit held in conjunction with the ASLA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles in October 2017.