2025 WLIA Scholarship Winner Spotlight: Jordyn Czyzewski

The WLIA Scholarship Committee announced the winners of the 2025 Damon Anderson Memorial Scholarship in early February. To celebrate these students and get you familiar with them before the 2026 WLIA Annual Conference, we are sharing interviews that we are doing with the scholarship awardees. This is our third, and final scholarship winner spotlight!

Jordyn Czyzewski (JOR-din cha-SHEF-skee) is closing in on her Bachelor of Arts in Landscape & Urban Studies, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She loves studying a lot of different topics and is looking forward to attending the WLIA Annual Conference later this week and hearing from our members!

Jordyn, I’m a Badger, and you’re a Badger! Why did you decide to attend UW-Madison?

UW-Madison drew me in through its unique blend of built and natural environments. Spaces like Picnic Point, the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, and the Arboretum sit right alongside the vibrant city, which is something I find really special. The multi-modal campus makes it easy to walk, bike, or bus to class and everywhere else I need to be. UW-Madison's commitment to the Wisconsin Idea also resonated with me, as the community-based learning opportunities gave me a way to connect my studies to real places and people, putting that philosophy of knowledge beyond the classroom into practice. As a Milwaukee native being just a Badger Bus ride away from my family has been a bonus throughout my time here!

I love that you saw so much in Madison going into college! How did you decide on your field of study? 

I have never been able to limit myself to just one area of interest, and my three interdisciplinary majors give me the ability to explore the relationships between people and places through different lenses. My studies are rooted in a passion for community environmental solutions and understanding how to support the well-being of both people and the environment at a local level. In high school, my IB Environmental Systems and Societies class opened my eyes to how environmental injustices shape quality of life. In my freshman year at UW-Madison, learning from the community-based learning course 'Mindfulness and Restorative Environments' in partnership with Mendota Community School deepened my understanding of why supporting communities in designing their own spaces matters so much. These experiences pushed me to ask bigger questions about how we shape the places people live, work, and gather, and that curiosity continues to drive my studies!

What were some highlights or lessons learned from last semester? 

Last semester I took Earth Partnership: Restoration Education for Equity and Resilience, which really shifted how I see and interact with the natural world. We went outside in all weather conditions to do stewardship work at the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, including collecting, sorting, and sowing native seeds. We also took a cultural landscape tour of the UW-Madison campus to learn more about the land's Indigenous history, and we read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, which introduced me to Indigenous perspectives on land care and seventh-generation thinking. The highlight was collaborating with the Teejop Hicera Community Center, where we worked with staff and children to create design proposals for their outdoor space. The process reinforced for me that listening to and prioritizing community voices leads to more thoughtful and inclusive environmental design, and that caring for land requires a sustained commitment to reciprocal relationships. 

Sidetrack question! What do you like to do for fun?

I am President of Re-Wear It Wisconsin at UW-Madison, a student organization focused on sustainability in fashion that hosts weekly events including free clothing swaps and workshops. Through Re-Wear It, I have learned to mend and upcycle my clothes, which has become a new creative passion and hobby developed in college. Outside of Re-Wear It, I love to read fiction, complete paint-by-numbers, play board games, and spend a lot of time outside, specifically in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve.

Your time at UW-Madison has given you a menagerie of experiences! How do your study and career goals contribute to the life that you want?

The dream is to live in a place where people have access to healthy food, affordable housing, recreational spaces, community gathering spaces, and can navigate between all of them safely with multiple transportation options. I want to be an active member of my community as a professional and as a neighbor. Helping other people achieve their ideal living conditions, and contributing to the built and natural environments that make that possible, is what drives me because it is what I want for myself too! 

Living out your purpose in a career and a lifestyle is a gift, and I think the work you are putting into this is inspiring! What is your 1, 3, or 5-year plan?

After graduation this May, I hope to work in the public sector in a direct, relationship-based service role. I want my first year to be about listening and learning: understanding how systems like housing, transportation, and environmental health affect people's daily lives at the neighborhood level. My goal is to build a foundation that centers service as a core part of my future. After that, I aspire to work full-time with a team focused on public improvements and integrating data, design, and storytelling to move complex work forward. For years four and five, I plan to pursue a graduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning, with a focus shaped by my early career experiences. Beyond these five years, I hope to help people tell their stories and use that shared knowledge to inform decision-making and build more sustainable, healthier, and connected communities. I plan to carry this approach throughout my professional career by using land information systems to elevate voices and ensure planning work remains grounded in the lived experiences of the people it serves. 

How do your study and career goals contribute to the life that you want?

The dream is to live in a place where people have access to healthy food, affordable housing, recreational spaces, community gathering spaces, and can navigate between all of them safely with multiple transportation options. I want to be an active member of my community as a professional and as a neighbor. Helping other people achieve their ideal living conditions, and contributing to the built and natural environments that make that possible, is what drives me because it is what I want for myself too! 

What are you hoping to learn or “get” from meeting with WLIA members/attending the WLIA Annual Conference?

I am looking to connect with WLIA members, listen to advice for someone early in their career, and learn more about what people are doing in the broad field of land information. I plan to stay in Madison after graduation this May and begin building my career in Wisconsin. The connections I make at the conference are ones I hope to carry throughout my professional journey.

You’ve shared some very thoughtful things here, Jordyn, so I’m going to wrap this up with some fun questions. If you could be any living thing other than a human, what would it be and why?

A duck! I think it would be so fun to be able to fly, swim, and rest on land, giving you access to so many different habitats and ecosystems. I love the idea of participating in seasonal migration by traveling to warmer places in the winter and splitting time between wetlands. 

Even as a duck, Jordyn stays grounded to her study of the environment and what happens in it! Where would you most like to travel to and why?

Last summer I interned at Urbaria, an urban research institute at the University of Helsinki, where I explored Finnish neighborhood design and sustainability research while experiencing the city's unique culture firsthand, including Midsummer. I would love to return to Finland and travel to Lapland to see the Northern Lights and reindeer, then continue into Norway to see the fjords, glacial valleys, and waterfalls. The dramatic landscapes of Norway and the environmental and geological history behind them fascinate me! 

What's something most people wouldn't guess about you?

I am taking a Tai Ji Quan class right now through the dance department! I have no formal background in dance or martial arts, but I decided to try something completely new in my last semester of senior year. Learning about its philosophy and impacts on wellness by slowing down has been a really rewarding and unexpected way to wrap up my time at UW-Madison. 

Lastly, what are some of your favorite things about Wisconsin?

The Midwestern goodbye and all of our lakes! I grew up in the City of Milwaukee near Lake Michigan and now live in Madison surrounded by three lakes within walking distance. There is something so distinctly Wisconsin about the way people gather near the water, linger, and just keep the conversation going. When summer finally arrives, Wisconsinites make the most of every warm day, and I love that about home. 

Well (slaps knee) . . . Midwest goodbyes drive me crazy, but I’m looking forward to having you at the WLIA conference this week, Jordyn. Thank you for sharing all of this with us and I’m excited to see where your love for service, study, and acting thoughtfully take you!