Cultivating Leadership Alongside a busy road and among old tattered buildings, a farm has flourished in an unexpected place. For 10 weeks, botany major Katie LaJeunesse and local high school students worked to transform a dozen or so empty wooden plant beds into a rich, green garden a few miles from downtown Chicago.  Two days a week, Katie supervised 15–18 students at each farm as part the Chicago Botanic Garden's Green Youth Farm project. After planting and caring for the vegetation, they took their finished products to farmers' markets. Katie said it connected the students to the consumer chain they are part of. "The project helps them learn job skills and leadership skills," she said. "A big priority is having them work together." Katie used her work with the students to fulfill the service component of the Urban Leadership Internship program, a program Katie was drawn to because of its focus on urban issues and exploration. "What drew me in is that you can do anything you want," she said. Katie knew she wanted to do something to help the environment. Katie also interned at the Chicago Field Museum, where she helped organize environmental education programs and workshops. "I had two different experiences with environmental education—[the] administrative side and hands-on," she said.

• Cultivating Leadership • Culture Study by Design • The Importance of Ground Work • Inside Washington • Job Searching of a Different Kind • On Her Way to the Top • One of the Crew • A Private Burden for Public Health • Reading Matters • Researching History Where It was Made • Shaping Policy through Medical Research • The Thrill of Discovery • The Truth About AIDS • Working for a Green Space "I have learned the fundamentals of accounting in classes, [but] these lessons are only the base knowledge necessary for work in the business world." —Diana Williams Read more >>