Garden Honoring Former UConn Student Now Featured On Storrs Campus

STORRS, CT — A memorial garden for former University of Connecticut student Andry Evangelista is now featured outside the Peter J. Werth Residence Tower.

The tower houses the learning community where Evangelista was a member. Evangelista died passed away in the summer of 2020.

UConn officials said the garden was a collaborative effort between various members of the university community, including students and faculty of Public Health House; students and faculty in the College of Agriculture, the Health and Natural Resources landscape architecture program; University Planning, Design and Construction and Facilities Operations at UConn; and Newman Architects, the firm that originally designed Werth Tower and the surrounding landscape design.

Evangelista was a member of Public Heath House during his first two years at UConn, and then became a student leader of that group as he entered his junior year. He passed away in a drowning accident during the summer of 2020.

Melissa Foreman, the director of learning communities at UConn, worked with Sohyun Park, an assistant professor in plant science and landscape architecture, and a contest was developed for students to design the garden in Evangelista’s memory.

See more about the project on the UConn Today site.