Like many students entering college for the first time, Piper Thyden wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with her life.
She and her mother, Tina, had just moved to Colorado Springs from Orange, Calif., and the pandemic was still impacting daily lives. Piper loved art, but she also knew that wasn’t what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
“I was studying fine arts in a 7-hour online class,” she said. “That took the joy out of drawing for me.”
Two colleges, two majors, taking time off working in retail and as a dog sitter left her at a crossroads. That’s when her mother suggested she check out the landscape architecture program in the CSU College of Agricultural Sciences.
“I’m very grateful for my mom’s meddling because I finally came up to Fort Collins to check it out,” she said, laughing. “It was during a campus tour that I realized I had found exactly what I wanted to do. I always loved art, but until that tour, I never realized how many things you could do with it.”
It didn’t take long after moving to Fort Collins to learn that she had made the right move.
“The first time I knew I was 100 percent in the right spot was when one of my landscape architecture professors was showing us a project – beginning to end, the whole process,” she said. “The entire time I could feel that I had this stupid grin on my face because I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do.”
Thyden discovered that landscape architecture was much more than designing backyard and garden layouts. A lover of hiking and other outdoor activities, she also appreciated the sustainability factor built into her education.
“Discovering the scope of the industry has been eye-opening,” she said. “I’m really starting to understand the depth of it – the impact you can have, such as designing entire urban landscapes. I’ve also discovered that you don’t have to be some creative genius to put together a successful project. It’s all about listening to and understanding the needs of the client. There’s no ego in landscape architecture, and I love that.”
Her classes have proven to be both challenging and enlightening. In one class, she had to come up with a redesign of the area around CSU’s iconic lagoon. In another, she redesigned Gateway Park at the mouth of Poudre Canyon, west of Fort Collins.
“I worked on that one for three months,” she said. “I loved it.”
She was encouraged to submit an application to the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Ignite program, which provides financial and education support to aspiring African American landscape architects. Ignite selects just five winners, with each receiving $10,000 in annual scholarships, professional mentorship and guaranteed internships each summer.
Thyden found out in fall 2024 that she had been chosen for the program.
“I was ecstatic,” she said. “Ignite really offers a tremendous opportunity for me to grow.”
Although she’s just now entering her third year in the landscape architecture program, she’s already thinking about the future and what it might hold.
“There are so many things that can be done to make the world look better and function better,” she said. “Even if one of my designs just brings a few more bees into the neighborhood, I can feel good about my work. It’s incredibly rewarding.”
With her passion for art, love for the outdoors, and support from her professors, Thyden says “There’s no place I’d rather be than CSU.”
Written By – Tony Phifer
