Victor Laptiste

LANDSCAPE architecture is a unique profession that blends science with art to create aesthetic and functional outdoor spaces.

Janelle Berkley has chosen a career that keeps her constantly in touch with nature. She has always been surrounded by nature from her early days at Zion Hill, Belle Garden, where she had the foundation of a sound and well-rounded primary education at the St. Edwards Anglican School.

Her class field trips would include visits to the Belle Garden Bay, hikes to Big River and, on occasions the classes were held under the almond or mango trees in the schoolyard.

She entered Bishops High School, being among the top five achievers in Tobago at the 1997 Common Entrance Examinations. While there, she took part in extra-curricular activities such as dance, drama and music; at the Schools Music Festival Championship Finals she was a member of the Bishops Choir in the classical and folk categories.

Her appreciation for the arts and things of beauty would have been evidently enhanced when she was exposed to piano music up to Grade Five during her early teenage years, and she was in the first batch of students to sit Music when it was offered at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) level. Being a well-rounded student, she was chosen as the Head Girl.

As Berkley approached her teenage years, the family moved to Louis Dor. This agricultural district is noted for the Propagation/Demonstration Station and Nursery filled with horticultural plants, the river and other natural settings; this provided the perfect setting for her growing love of nature. From then, she knew that she wanted to do something environmental.

Based on her outstanding A-level results, she was awarded the Tobago House of Assembly scholarship for Environmental Science. She enrolled at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus in Jamaica, where she graduated in 2008 with a Bsc in Geology (Major) and Geography (Minor).

Studying in Jamaica gave her a new perspective on the unique flora and fauna of the Caribbean, as she was able to visit sites at Dunns River Falls in Ocho Rios, hike up the Blue Mountains and tour along the idyllic beaches at Negril.

Her passion for the environment propelled her to dig deeper into the science, and at the University of Greenwich, London she completed the Post Graduate Certificate in Landscape Design, where she specialised in Design with Nature, Site Design, Planting Design, Ecology and Conservation. Berkley continued studies at that institution, and in 2013 she earned the Master of Arts Degree in Landscape Architecture, which included among other areas specialised studies in GIS, Landscape Engineering, Assessment and Advanced Planting Design.

While in England, she embraced the opportunity to observe various gardens such as the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Garden at Wisley; she never missed the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which is the most famous flower show in the United Kingdom and perhaps in the world; it attracts visitors from all continents. She also journeyed to France, where she observed French landscape designs such as Parc de Bercy, Jardin Atlantique and Parc de la Villette.

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Victor Laptiste