2025 Academic Award Recipients

BGC 2025 UVM Scholarship Recipients

Pictured, left to right: Jody Gendron (President BGC); Madison Camisa (scholarship recipient); Margaret Bartholomew (Scholarship Chair); Adrienne Padden (Scholarship Recipient)

Madison prefers to go by, “Maddie”. She is a graduating senior with a major in Agroecology and Landscape Design with a concentration in Landscape Design. Maddie is from Colchester, VT and has always been interested in natural ecosystems and the environment. She initially started at UVM as an environmental science major but found that topic was too broad and she wanted to narrow her scope. She searched what opportunities existed at UVM and switched to the Landscape Design major as a sophomore. Another interest of Maddie’s is “interior design”. In high school and into college, she would help her mother stage homes that her parents had renovated to sell. Maddie always enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing others appreciate her handiwork.

Outside of campus, Maddie has been involved with several jobs/internships related to her major. She has worked for “Mother Nature’s Helper” which is a local horticultural business that manages and maintains interior plantscapes and outside gardens. More recently, she has worked as a gardener and landscaper at The Essex Resort and Spa. At this job, she managed their vegetable and flower gardens and even some goats! Maddie was instrumental in helping The Essex renovate their wedding venue on site despite all the flooding rains the summer she was there. Maddie is excited to have secured a position with the engineering consultant firm, Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. in Barre where she begin work after graduation. Maddie’s long-term goals include pursuing professional certificates/licenses in architectural engineering and perhaps obtaining a master’s degree in this field.

Adrienne is a Junior in Agroecology and Landscape Design with a concentration in Landscape. Adrienne is a Junior in Agroecology and Landscape Design with a concentration in Landscape Design. She is also pursuing a minor in Green Building and Community Design. Adrienne is native to southeast Massachusetts and grew up near the coast. Her childhood memories are of a backyard garden that received sporadic attention but still provided bright orange lilies for color and strawberries for eating. Art has always been an interest to Adrienne. She has worked with embroidery, water colors and block printing. When selecting UVM, she did so because she found she could pursue both her interests in gardening along with her passion for art through landscape design.

At UVM, Adrienne has been active in the Horticulture Club and is currently serving as their Social Media Manager. Adrienne makes creative announcements for their bi-weekly meetings, activities and events and posts them to Instagram. Off campus, Adrienne worked last summer for Burlington Parks and Recreation Department as a horticultural assistant. Her job was to help maintain the parks and rain gardens around the city. Adrienne found this job to be very rewarding especially when getting to see everyone using the spaces that she worked on. While graduation is still over a year away, Adrienne looks forward to staying in Vermont, doing landscape designs and community outreach in the field of horticulture.