What We’re About

On the Ecological Landscaping Crew, you will work to maintain Warren Wilson’s sustainability practices in energy conservation, landscape design, and community wellness. A day on this crew might be landscaping on main campus, maintaining the formal gardens, raking leaves or pruning invasive plants, and upkeeping trails and walkways. You will work with your supervisor and crew members to cultivate long-term plans for campus sustainability, learn about how to properly care for tools and equipment, and develop an understanding of native and beneficial plants for this area. There are also opportunities to work in the greenhouse, learn how to propagate, and get a deep understanding of how to properly care for plants.

What You’ll Learn

You’ll spend years working alongside your peers with the mentorship of your supervisors.  Part of the experience of work at Warren Wilson is guided critical reflection, which helps ensure that you achieve both your own educational goals as well as our Common Learning Outcomes. These intentional learning outcomes distinguish our Work Program, giving it focus and relevancy that set it apart from a federal work-study or your average part-time job. 

Our Common Learning Outcomes:

• Professionalism & Work Ethic: accountability, effective work habits, punctuality, dependability, time management, integrity, and commitment to the well-being of the community.
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: working with available resources to creatively address issues and solve problems, and gaining confidence to make decisions.
• Communication: the ability to convey and receive information effectively with intentionality, honesty, and confidence in both speech and writing.
• Collaboration & Teamwork: actively collaborate with peers to achieve common goals, Distribute labor fairly, and hold each other accountable as committed members of a group.
• Civic Identity: understanding your active influence within the community and how your decisions directly impact the work around you.

In addition to our Common Learning Outcomes, each crew in the Work Program identifies crew-specific goals for learning and performance. These are reviewed with you each semester. Your crew-specific learning goals outline skills and abilities your supervisor will teach you during the semester. 

Our CCC crew learning goals include:

• Landscaping 
• Knowledge of plants, identification, and propagation
• Sustainability efforts
• Project planning