Jackson and I were the only two landscape architects who went to the Galapagos in summer 2024. Our host families lived on the same block, and we walked down to school together every morning. Jackson was such a fun person to travel with. He was equally dependable and adventurous and was never worried about what the crowd was doing. After bugging him the whole trip, we finally got him to come dancing at the discoteca a couple nights before we left, and he did dance, even if he was also shaking his head at everyone’s antics the whole time.
Jackson and I went on a few other trips together with our friends or for ASLA. Sharing fries in Quito and beignets in a cafe in New Orleans and witnessing his first time trying ramen in DC are some of my favorite memories. He was always so curious and we loved to talk about all kinds of things while we explored or ate- our experiences growing up in LA, capturing memory through poetry and journaling, school, Christmas movies.
Jackson could smell BS from a mile away and was someone I trusted so much to talk about all kinds of problems with. It’s hard to imagine navigating my future landscape career without being able to talk to him. He was the friend who showed up to events I was running just cause he knew I was worried about how it would go, and the friend who would send me a text after encouraging me now matter how it went. We spent hundreds (maybe thousands?) of hours in studio slowly losing our minds together, but he always had an encouraging word, even at 3am. I miss doing karaoke in the car and hiking together, playing pickleball, and discussing earnestly all the great and stupid things about our profession. I’ll keep his kindness, curiosity, and warmth with me forever. He showed me how it’s done.
September 5, 2026