Class began early for School of Communication professor Sarah Menke-Fish and her students last month, as they boarded a bus at 7 a.m. bound for Warrenton, Virginia.

With cameras in hand, the first-year students in Menke-Fish’s 100-level Visual Literacy course were headed to AU’s Airlie Center to document the grounds of the Berkshire Farm, including livestock and loads of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The hands-on experiential learning experience was designed to help the budding filmmakers hone their skills, while identifying the visuals that define Airlie, which AU acquired in 2016 as a gift to the Change Can’t Wait campaign.

As a thank you to Airlie, the students compiled their photos of the visit into a 67-second video postcard showcasing scenes of rolling countryside, cows, hogs, and produce. It’s the class’s first deliverable for the 300-acre property, which this semester serves as their client.

As they’re learning about photography, visual design, and filmmaking, the students will work together to create a branding strategy to publicize the farm through visual storytelling on social media and the web, which they’ll present to Airlie in December.

“There’s endless opportunity rooted in Airlie,” said Bronté Burleigh-Jones, Kogod/BS ’91, MBA ’93, CFO, vice president and treasurer. “The first time I walked on the property in 2022 as part of my review of the university’s holdings, I was immediately struck by its special nature and what an incredible opportunity we had in it for our community of Eagles.”

From First Years to Grad Students

Menke-Fish’s class isn’t the only one siezing those learning opportunities to help Airlie to chart its future.

Last spring, grad students in Kogod School of Business professor Tom Kohn’s MBA capstone course were brought on as consultants to analyze Airlie’s business strategy.

Splitting into teams that focused on sustainability, revenue, community supported agriculture (CSA), and brand awareness, the 14 graduate students explored new and more profitable ways that Airlie could be better integrated into the AU experience.

Kohn’s students have worked with 40 different clients over the eight years he’s taught the Kogod capstone course, helping businesses that include local restaurants, nonprofits, and national brands. This was the first time, though, that his class has worked with an internal AU client.

“Our students in some ways were more well-positioned to give valuable advice than an outside firm,” Kohn said. “They’ve been living this for two years of their MBA, so they can relate to the client better.”

Each group surveyed Airlie’s key stakeholders, interviewing nearby residents, past guests who stayed at the property, students, and professors to ground their recommendations in research.

After gaining hands-on experience, the students presented their findings to Michael Scher, SOC/BA ’08, WCL/JD ’13, Kogod/MS ’19, assistant vice president of Campus Auxiliary Services and Airlie, in May. Proposals provided immediate value, Scher said.

“The recommendations the students gave really drove us to understand that we were on the right path,” he said.

A recommendation to host events to draw visitor to the property prompted AU to move forward with the AU-Airlie Fall Festival and 5K, which will be held on November 11. A deep dive into the property’s sustainability practices helped Airlie introduce more composting measures, which have increased savings while shrinking the property’s environmental footprint.

This fall, based on recommendations from the MBA students, Airlie rolled out recipe cards as part of its CSA program to provide ideas for customers on how to use their shares in the kitchen.

A survey of 600 AU faculty by one group also indicated 75 percent of professors were very to somewhat interested in Airlie as an alternative classroom setting. Other ideas under consideration include an Airlie farm store, a solar panel installation, a yurt village, and more transportation options for AU community members to get to the property, which is located about an hour outside of DC.

“Airlie is and can be part of the academic mission of the university,” Scher said. “It is a useful asset for us to have and provides a lot of value.”