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Welcome to Learning by Leading™ at American University
Learning by Leading™ fosters community-based student leadership projects that highlight how policy transforms into action. One initiative with many projects, LxL™ acts locally while thinking globally. Students in this program graduate with hands-on experience solving real-world problems on campus and with connections to the D.C. community at large.
Frequently asked questions
What is LxL™?
LxL™ provides students with leadership skills and real-world experience to address sustainability issues.
The experiential model was funded by Chrissy Dewis at UC Davis before it gained notoriety for pushing students to learn through leading.
Stephanie DeStefano, the Grounds Operations Manager in Facility Management, brought LxL™ to American University. Learning by Leading™ at AU went on to enable the rise of sustainability clubs and inter-cooperation between them.
On-campus, LxL™ sponsors the Community Garden, Beekeepers Society, Wonk Trade, Engineers for a Sustainable World, and the Food Waste Network.
Off-campus, LxL™ at AU is partnered with the Smithsonian Gardens through the Smithsonian Institution's Garden Ambassadors program.
How we work
The learning by leading™ model is a collaborative approach to projects. Our program encourages foreword environmental thinking; these student-led projects strive to implement the changes they’ve envisioned. Working with their fellow students, administrators, faculty, and outside parties students are able to make an impact.
What can we do for you?
LxL™ not only hands students the reins, but is a highly responsive program. Easy to get in touch with and under candid leadership, LxL™ wants our students to succeed.
Not only do we advocate for our clubs amongst administrative decision-making, but we provide them with opportunities to connect their projects to the greater D.C. area through our independent study program.
How to Engage
Like we said, LxL™ wants students to take the lead. Getting involved with LxL™ is made easy with this site.
If you're interested in our sponsored sustainability clubs but are unsure about signing up, look at the club overviews contact information on this page.
Independent Research Project
Learning by Leading™ seeks to support students interested in Independent Research projects relating to the environment and sustainability. Instead of students pursuing random professors to approve their projects, LxL™ encourages students to reach out to our faculty advisors from the Department of Environmental Science.
Some of our projects
Edible Campus
Learn about the Edible Campus Initiative
The Edible Campus Initiative began with a few folks interested in picking weeds. Since then, it’s grown from its humble garden root to a community dedicated to cultivating a collective and individual relationship with the earth.
The garden is an outlet for research and education outside the classroom. The hands-on collective effort to educate members on agricultural justice, indigenous stories, and ecological improvement has made way for sanctuary outside the hustle and bustle of campus life.
Everything is grown pesticide free.
- The Community Garden: the flagship garden produces the majority of our fruits and vegetables. Students, faculty, and passersby are free to join the festivities, gardeners regularly host potlucks, garden parties, and other events.
- The Companion Garden: the small plot of land is home to numerous pollinators and students escaping the sun. This garden largely produces herbs.
Fall 2021 the Community Garden unveiled the garden mural painted by club member, TreVaughn Ellis. Stepping up their community involvement, gardeners partnered with other sustainability clubs on campus to draw more awareness to local environmental issues.
Currently, the garden is working on producing food for the AU Food Pantry, introducing local children to the joy of dirt, encouraging students to reconnect with nature, and engaging in weekly land acknowledgments.
The Garden Club is a soft commitment.
Gardeners are expected to enjoy their time in our campus sanctuary, if that means showing up at every other club meeting or staying behind to discuss harvest strategy is up to you!
Contact Information
Located between the Katzen Arts Center and Nebraska Hall, they can be contacted at americanucommunitygarden@gmail.com or on Instagram @i_begyourgarden
Beekeeping Society
Learn about AU's Beekeeping Society
The AU Beekeeping Society is a dedicated group of current and future beekeepers. AU made a commitment to climate change and the beekeeping society helps sustain that promise by keeping an on-campus beehive on the Mary Graydon Center rooftop.
While sleepy in the winter, the pollinators are free to roam campus maintaining our local ecosystem.
Admiring bees and observing the hive isn’t the only community action the beekeepers take! Once a semester the Beekeeping Society partners with the D.C. Beekeepers Alliance to take free beekeeping classes.
Students work hands-on with the maintenance of the hive and eventual harvest of honey all while learning about the importance of balance within natural systems from scales as large as a campus to as small as a frame of bees!
The Beekeeping Society takes students of all experience levels!
Contact Info
Located in MGSC 330, they can be contacted at aubeekeepers@gmail.com or on Instagram @aubeekeepingsociety
Wonk Trade: Zero Waste Club
Learn more about the Zero Waste Club
The culmination of an important independent study, the Zero Waste Club at AU is a student-run trading & exchange post.
Known amongst the students as Wonk Trade, the community trading post hosts clothing swaps, art events, plant fairs, and promotes educational action involving zero waste organizations in the greater D.C. area.
Contact Info
Located in MGSC 327, they can be contacted at austudentzerowasteclub@gmail.com or on Instagram @wonktradeau
Engineers for a Sustainable World
Discover a unique opportunity at AU
A national program, the AU chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) focuses on leaving a positive impact on the environment and increasing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) awareness at AU and around the District of Columbia. ESW has a special place at American, a generally international relations-oriented university, focusing on sustainability through engineering.
Each semester, ESW chooses a club project. Previously, students successfully engineered a smoothie bike and partnered with The Community Garden to build a seed library.
ESW encourages everyone to join! No experience required! For more information on joining, click on the Involvement Page.
Contact Info
Located in Don Meyers 110, they can be contacted at eswamericanu@gmail.com or via Instagram @esw_au
Project Moveout Program
Learn about AU's Project Moveout
One of Wonk Trade’s greatest contributions to the greater D.C. community: Project Moveout.
With community volunteers, Project Moveout asks all students to donate whatever’s left in their dorms. Collection bins are deposited around campus, and motivated volunteers sort through the myriad of clothing, hangers, storage items, kitchenware, room décor, and school supplies.
In partnership with The Market, AU’s Food Pantry, Project Moveout asks that all non-perishable and unopened food is donated.
Contact Info
Located in MGSC 327, they can be contacted at austudentzerowasteclub@gmail.com or on Instagram @wonktradeau
Smithsonian Partnership
Smithsonian Garden Ambassadors
The Learning by Leading™ program at AU in partnership with the Smithsonian is dedicated to helping students find their passions in ways that promote innovative thinking, teamwork, leadership skills, and literary knowledge on environmental issues.
Explore Past Projects
Garden Ambassadors at the Smithsonian Institution both design and contribute to educational programs. In the past, employees and interns have collaborated on numerous projects including The Garden Gate: Careers in Gardening.
The Garden Gate is an ongoing podcast and video series dedicated to educating and encouraging listeners to join environmental and gardening careers.
Click here to explore their YouTube channel.
