When Cameron Berglund moved from the United States to East Africa, he knew he wanted to become more intentional about service.
But there was a small problem—he wasn’t sure how he could combine his passion for helping others with his love for landscape architecture.
“I had given up on the idea of being able to teach and do landscape architecture at the same time,” Berglund said. “I was planning to teach English as a foreign language, and I was content on doing that.”
But then, something unexpected happened.
While living in Kampala, Uganda, Berglund stumbled upon a school for gardening and landscaping on the street where he and his wife lived.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “It was as though we had been led there.”
And just as quickly as the opportunity had presented itself, Berglund found himself helping develop a curriculum for post-high school Ugandans.
“I think an important question to ask ourselves is how we can expand landscape architecture education into areas where there isn’t any,” Berglund said. “I want my skills and love for landscape architecture to fit into this bigger picture of poverty alleviation and empowerment.”
After almost two years, Berglund left Uganda with a newfound love for teaching design. His experience working in the majority world left an impact, and that was the push he needed to continue his landscape architecture journey. Berglund graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2005 and a master’s degree in 2016, both in landscape architecture from UGA.
Now, Berglund works as a lecturer at UGA’s College of Environment and Design, where he instills a love for designing in his students.
Cameron Berglund teaches a landscape architecture drafting class. (Photo by Peter Frey/UGA)
Berglund also shares his passion for sketching. Throughout his travels, Berglund has had opportunities to sketch incredible landscapes across Africa and Southeast Asia, and more than anything, he wants to share those experiences with his students.
“Sketching is a great way for students to get together, to get outside, and to engage with the world without our phones, which is so needed,” said Berglund.
In 2019, Berglund started an urban sketching chapter, called AthSketch, that has established community and connected students across campus. COVID-19 delayed the chapter’s progress, but the group now meets weekly to sketch the unique facets of UGA’s campus.
More recently, Berglund’s love for sketching, teaching and service has inspired him to organize two new Maymester courses that will take students on a journey of Tanzania this summer.
Working alongside Lioba Moshi of UGA’s African Studies Institute, Berglund will teach a community-design studio, where students will create design plans for an educational play space at a local children’s home. His second course will focus on nature journaling, which will allow students to explore the beauty of the Serengeti and historic Zanzibar Coast.
Berglund hopes these new Maymester courses will inspire students to learn about different cultures and open their eyes to the beauty and challenges of the world.
“There’s a beautiful complexity to reality in the majority world,” said Berglund. “There’s material poverty, but then there’s also amazing community. There are people living out lives in incredibly different ways, doing incredibly awesome things and really hard things, too.”
