Of particular interest to me was the work we did regarding learning communities. The idea really resonated with two of the other members of my cohort and me. Together, we decided to use that as the foundational framework for the program's culminating project, a collaborative "capstone." 

To stretch our application of the learning community concept, we decided to approach our capstone with an outside-the-box mindset and see how well it would work in unique, unexplored contexts. Through a personal contact, we arranged to work with the Houston Astros (a US Major League Baseball organization) to evaluate their ballpark concessions system for a total redesign as part of a multi-million dollar remodel of the kitchen, warehouse, and concessions facilities. Our goal: Leverage and apply the principles of learning communities to drive positive systemic change within significant spatial, temporal, and resource constraints. 

Exploring the nuance of how different areas of the organization depended on the skills, understanding, and execution of so many other departments was fascinating. We were amazed at the impact a paradigm shift had when taking what seemed to be routine tasks done in a silo and evolving that work into a system built on shared goals, continuous improvement through collaborative learning, and facilitation of success.

On a personal note, I discovered a talent and interest in systems engineering. One of the key insights I gained at Vanderbilt is the idea that "Every system is perfectly designed to produce exactly what you get from it. More often than not, if you aren't satisfied with the outcome, look at the system, not the people." I found it incredibly rewarding to identify systemic bottlenecks and challenges that stymied employee growth, design solutions to address them, and then see the results take shape. This is a practice I have since taken into my career as an educator and leader, and found the principles are just as effective across any context. 

Although it may seem an odd choice to partner with a baseball stadium juggling 50K hot dogs with new beer shipments as our capstone project, and believe me, our advisors' first reaction was just that, but we strongly believed that the knowledge and skills we developed throughout the LLO could be effectively applied as an educational framework in any context. Working with the Astros allowed us not only to challenge that position but ultimately validate our claim in home-run fashion. Pun intended.