Laddi Quintanilla Selected for APA WA Chapter 2025 Student Scholarship   

By Steve Butler, FAICP, Scholarship Committee Co-Chair, APA WA Chapter

Congratulations to Ladislao (Laddi) Quintanilla for being selected by the Western Washington University’s Department of Urban & Environmental Planning & Policy as the recipient of an APA Washington Chapter’s 2025 Student Scholarship in the amount of $2,650!

Laddi grew up in a small town of Cowlitz County, Washington but his family’s roots run deep to the island of Guam, where his CHamoru[SB1]  heritage originates. Coming up in a decently reserved town while being raised in a multicultural household taught Laddi the importance of embracing diversity and community in the face of exclusion. His family always emphasized the value of care and connection, encouraging the next generation to engage with others and to carry their heritage forward with pride. Those lessons shaped how Laddi sees the world today and continues to inform the way he thinks about planning, belonging, and social responsibility.

Laddi Quintanilla carries a strong sense of justice that guides how he approaches planning and community work. He cares deeply about fostering resilience, inclusion, and empowerment, planning to center those values in housing and community development work. Laddi also exhibits a developing and persistent interest in island planning that honors place, culture, and self-determination. He sees a “hazy but purposeful” path ahead, one that begins with housing work close to home and gradually reaches toward research and planning across the North Pacific.

At this moment, Laddi is studying urban planning and sustainable development within the Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy Department of Western Washington University. He also serves as Co-President of the Club for Urban and Environmental Sustainability (CUES), an APA-recognized Student Planning Organization. Laddi is particularly proud to have helped lead a student-directed space that amplifies young planning voices, connects peers across cohorts, and builds a strong student community from Western’s campus. He is looking forward to “great planning work on the horizon.”

Please join me in congratulating Laddi Quintanilla and wishing him the best as he finishes his planning educational pursuits and then joins the planning profession!