Student-Led Learning Labs: How to Integrate Campus Operations into the Experiential Curriculum

Emily Foote spent her childhood observing a divide that existed just three blocks from her home in West Philadelphia. She saw how geography determined educational quality and made a promise to spend her career closing that gap. She spent time as a teacher, an education lawyer, an edtech founder, and an investor. Now, as the chief growth and strategy officer at Saxbys, she is focused on a specific type of circular learning that she first discovered on a basketball court.

"I figured out how to work the system to get great grades, which was basically by mimicking, but I didn't learn that much," Foote says. "Where I found the joy of learning and getting better was in sports. I would be in the game, then I would reflect on it by watching video, I’d get feedback from a coach, and I’d practice. Then I’d do it again in the game. That circular motion of experience influenced the entirety of my career."

Foote recently joined the EduCast 3000 podcast to discuss why this model of experiential learning has become a necessity in educating a workforce-ready student body. 

The end of the junior career phase

For decades, the entry level of the workforce functioned as a bargain. Recent graduates performed the grunt work, the data cleansing, and the initial drafting in exchange for a lower salary and the chance to gain experience. Generative AI is potentially ending that arrangement.

A Stanford analysis found that employment for workers aged 22 to 25 has already declined by 13% in fields exposed to AI. Research from the World Economic Forum suggests that 50% to 60% of junior tasks are now being executed by algorithms.

"AI is removing those bottom rungs," Foote explains. "CEOs are saying the quiet part out loud: AI isn’t for junior employees, it is just going to replace those folks."

This shift exacerbates an existing "experience gap." While 81% of graduates believe they are strong critical thinkers, only 56% of employers agree. When a degree no longer serves as a reliable signal of capability, the university must prove its ROI through something more than a credential.

Leading vs. running

The resurgence of apprenticeship models often gets lost in the distinction between labor and leadership. Foote differentiates between "student-run" operations and "student-led" ones.

Student-run programs often imply simple labor, putting students to work to keep costs low. Student-led programs, like the Saxbys cafes and bookstores found on campuses like Drexel University and Northeastern University, give students full P&L responsibility. These students build culture, develop their peers, and make decisions in a consequence-rich environment.

This environment is where students develop what Foote calls "power skills":

• Critical thinking
• Emotional intelligence
• Resilience
• Influential communication
• Thrive Drive (the intrinsic motivation to push through high-stakes situations)

"You can’t get these as easily in a lecture hall," Foote says. "The new currency of the workforce is the answer to questions like: Can you lead when things go wrong? Can you motivate people who don’t report to you? Can you make a decision with incomplete information?"

Making equity the foundation of experiential education

Historically, experiential learning was a privilege. Unpaid internships in expensive cities were often only accessible to students whose parents could subsidize their rent. Foote argues that if equity is not the foundation of the model, it simply compounds existing advantages.

At Saxbys, every student position is paid and many earn academic credit. Over the last 10 years, students in the program have earned over $17 million in wages. During the last school year, 56% of student CEOs were first-generation college students or came from underserved backgrounds.

The results show up in the retention data. While the national graduation rate hovers around 50%, 100% of student leaders in the Saxbys program have graduated on time.

"The model removes the barriers that typically filter students out because they have financial need or lack geographic access," Foote says. "It builds a deep sense of belonging because you are doing it with other students."

The role of the learning architect

This shift requires faculty members to evolve from lecturers into learning architects. At Boston University and the University of Virginia, professors are already integrating these on-campus operations into their curricula. Students use real cafe data to develop media strategies, marketing briefs, and product-market fit analyses for Gen Z consumers.

Foote believes that within the next decade, this integration will become the norm in higher education, provided three systemic changes occur:

1. Crediting frameworks must evolve to allow academic credit for real-world application.
2. Employers must begin rewarding demonstrated competency over institutional pedigree.
3. Funding models must catch up to support economically self-sustaining programs.

"Theory without practice produces graduates who know things they can’t do," Foote says. "But practice without theory produces technicians who can’t transfer skills to new contexts. The most transformative learning happens at the intersection."

Hear the full conversation at the Raiders of the Lost Apprenticeship: How Student Leadership and Experiential Learning are Driving Workforce Success episode of Educast 3000 podcast.