Learn and Serve Environmental Anthropology Field (LEAF) School

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Service-Learning Projects

The Learn and Serve Environmental Anthropology Field (LEAF) School engages students in the application of traditional ecological knowledge and modern science to help solve contemporary problems. The LEAF School partners with tribes, governments, non-profits and businesses to make our community more sustainable through wildlife tracking, habitat restoration, revitalizing traditional foods, archaeology and environmental stewardship. At the core of the program are a series of courses in human ecology, Anth 201-203, and archaeology, Anth 270-275.

The LEAF School employs service-learning through hands-on archaeological projects and as a form of participant observation, the primary method of investigation in cultural anthropology. Students have the opportunity to participate in everyday activities of farmers, fishermen (and women), carvers, restoration ecologists, gardeners, entrepreneurs, citizen scientists, rangers, wildlife trackers, archaeologists and others while learning about the social and ecosystems of Western Washington.

Academic Year

The LEAF School is a year-round program offered in partnership through Edmonds and Everett Community Colleges. The human ecology courses, Anth 201-203, meet on Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each quarter of the year.

Summer 2013

Anth 201-203 will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays beginning July 5th and ending August 23. They will also meet July 23 - 25 for overnight camping with the Tribal Canoe Journey.

Anth 270 & 272 will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays beginning July 3rd and ending August 21. They will also meet August 5, 6 & 8 for overnight camping on an archaeological project. Class does not meet on July 24.

Anth 271 & 273 will meet from 8 am to 5 pm on Thursdays beginning July 18th and ending August 22. Class does not meet on July 25 & August 8. Students from other campuses are welcome to enroll in LEAF School courses. Most of our activities occur off campus and we take vans together from campus to field sites. To join beginning students should enroll in Anth 201, 270 and/or 271. Visit www.edcc.edu/enroll to sign up.

Public Events

The LEAF School supports large public events open to the community. Join us at Stolja Ali: Place of Medicine Ethnobotanical Garden in the City of Lynnwood’s Gold Park on Make A Difference Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, and Earth Day. Each year you can also join us as we help host an annual powwow on the first weekend of May.

Peer Advocacy

The LEAF School operates with a peer advocacy model through which students in the more advanced classes (Anth 202-203 & 272-275) serve as mentors for introductory students who all meet and provide service together. Support for the development and replication of peer advocacy comes from Connect 2 Complete, a Campus Compact Program with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.