The Learning by Leading™ program at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia recently won the Program Excellence Award from the American Public Gardens Association.
The State Botanical Garden is a member of the American Public Gardens Association, along with 600 other public gardens in North America and internationally. The Program Excellence Award is given to association members who display innovation in the development of an original and completed program, according to the American Public Gardens Association.
The State Botanical Garden was awarded Program Excellence for Learning by Leading along with the other partners on the project, including the UC Davis Public Garden and Arboretum, Cornell Botanic Gardens and University of Central Florida Arboretum.
Learning by Leading at the University of Georgia is a hands-on program developed for the botanical garden to increase leadership skills through a comprehensive experiential learning program. Students progress through a leadership ladder, gaining technical, human and conceptual skills while working alongside staff mentors at the State Botanical Garden.
“This award gives the program additional credibility,” said Cora Keber, the State Botanical Garden’s director of education. “For Learning by Leading to be acknowledged in this way is excellent; it demonstrates that we are making an impact with our students.”
Since it was brought to UGA in 2018, 182 students have joined the program, contributing nearly 22,000 hours to furthering the State Botanical Garden’s mission. Learning by Leading is an approved program for Service, Leadership and Intern experiential learning credits, a university requirement for all undergraduate students.
Students work on teams, ranging from horticulture, environmental education, conservation, visitor services and more. A staff mentor guides them, and students can become student leaders in their teams as they progress through the program.
The idea for introducing Learning by Leading to UGA began when the garden’s director, Jenny Cruse-Sanders, learned about the program at UC Davis Public Garden and Arboretum while attending the American Public Gardens Association’s annual conference in 2017.
“Learning by Leading encourages students to participate in experiential learning at the garden,” said Cruse-Sanders. “The program has engaged more university students in our work, and we are honored to receive this recognition.”
Students have contributed to projects including mapping the garden collections, heirloom apple production, plant propagation, and creating education programming, curriculum and environmental interpretation materials.
“The State Botanical Garden of Georgia is one of two founding partners in our international Learning by Leading Community of Practice,” said Kathleen Socolofsky, assistant vice chancellor and director of UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. “We’ve been thrilled to see how the State Botanical Garden team has adopted Learning by Leading and developed innovations that contribute so much to our Community of Practice of gardens across North America.”
Since its inception at UGA, Learning by Leading has continued to grow and evolve to serve the needs of students, student leaders, interns and staff mentors. Initial funding support came from UGA’s Office of Experiential Learning through an Innovation Grant. Later, support has come from the Friends of the Garden at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and the UGA Parents Leadership Council.
Students interested in joining the program are invited to an information session on Aug. 28 at the State Botanical Garden. For more information and to register for the event, visit https://botgarden.uga.edu/event/learn-lead-orientation/.
For more information about the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and Learning by Leading, visit botgarden.uga.edu.
