Learning Blooms on AU’s Green Campus
Plants respond to their environment.
Across species, budding sprouts stretch toward the sun. This phenomenon, known as phototropism, continues throughout the lifecycle as flora bends around obstacles and out of the shade to catch life-giving rays.
A popular American University elective similarly beckons students outside into the sunshine to take advantage of the 84-acre, accredited, award-winning campus arboretum they call home.
For three years, Urban Gardening (ENVS 175/HFIT 175) has helped Eagles of all experience levels learn the basics of city horticulture through guest lectures and a student-led collaborative learning model.
Part of what makes the course unique is its use of AU’s Community Garden—tucked between the Katzen Arts Center and Nebraska Hall—as a living laboratory where lessons take root.
“The garden really is an extension of our classroom, allowing students to apply concepts related to sustainable food production, soil health, biodiversity, and urban ecosystems,” said administrative instructor Chelsea Koch, an environmental science professor in the College of Arts and Sciences. “This connection between academic learning and a tangible campus resource has been a major part of the course’s appeal.”
At 9:45 a.m. on a warm Wednesday, student instructors Mina Gortinsky, SPA/BA ’26, and Sav Selin, CAS/BS ’27, led a lesson in the East Quad Building on pollinators—the tiny creatures responsible for fertilizing one in every three bites of food we eat.
Shortly after, the class headed outdoors and across Massachusetts Avenue in search of the bees, butterflies, and bugs that 75 percent of all flowering plants rely on to bloom and bear fruit.
Selin became an instructor for the course through their involvement in the Community Garden and student-run Garden Club.
“I really like the exchange that happens,” said Selin, copresident of the Garden Club. “I learn something from the people taking this class every day.”
Jake Peterson, SPA/BA ’26, signed up for the elective as a welcome change of pace from his political science courses and a reminder of home in Monterey, California, along the central coast, where he grew up gardening with his father.
“Having a course at AU that allows us to utilize a great space like our community garden—and learning about gardening while in DC—has really helped me feel more connected to my roots,” Peterson said.
Last year, Peterson lived next door in Nebraska Hall and often sat on benches near the garden for fresh air. This semester, he and his classmates planted peas, carrots, and radishes inside the fence line, and the first shoots are beginning to pop up.
Students have also conducted a soil texture test, prepped beds, and explored small-space gardening, composting, companion planting, food waste reduction, and regional considerations for growing in DC. In the coming weeks, the class will dig into medicinal plants, agrobiodiversity, farmworkers’ rights, canning, and harvesting.
Gortinsky took the class in 2025 and stepped up to teach this fall.
“Getting my hands dirty has been part of my daily life since I can remember,” said Gortinsky, who attended Summerfield Waldorf School in Santa Rosa, California, which features a working farm on campus. “I went the first two years here at AU not experiencing that anymore, so when the opportunity to get more involved with the garden through the urban gardening class came up, I jumped on [it].”
Gortinsky chose AU largely because of its green campus.
“One of the great things about being at AU and in Northwest DC is we’re surrounded by all of this beautiful space,” Gortinsky said. “I love that AU is an arboretum. I love that through courses like this, we get to build a connection with the land.”
Eagles don’t need to be enrolled in Urban Gardening to enjoy the Community Garden. The Garden Club hosts workdays from noon to 2 p.m. every Saturday, and students, faculty, and staff are welcome to stop by anytime to harvest herbs and produce.
“It’s a wonderful green space,” Selin said. “It’s open all the time for anyone.”