The L.E.A.D. Fellowship
A semester-long research fellowship for high-school students who want to do work that matters: identify a real-world problem, research it like a professional, raise real funding for it, and present real findings — for a real community, in Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines.
Apply Now How It Works"The L.E.A.D. Fellowship is a student-led research and community development program that teaches students how to identify real-world problems, conduct research, and develop practical solutions."
The fellowship runs under Eat The Elephant's philosophy: break large projects into manageable milestones, and always focus on the next actionable step. Fellows meet virtually in bi-weekly Saturday classes (6:00 PM Pacific) and weekly with their project partners, guided by mentors who act as project managers — in the program's own words, "students make the food; staff are the tasters."
Fellows' research feeds an active redevelopment partnership with the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design, whose 18 senior landscape-architecture students built their capstone — a full professional design book — around four Lubao sites. Fellows collaborate directly with the CPP students, faculty, and Dean Mary Anne Akers' college.
San Pedro Palcarangan Elementary School: ~300 students ages 5–12 on a gated campus with 10 classrooms — and a single laptop. Technology courses are taught on a chalkboard.
A cafeteria building broken by wind and rain, no health clinic, no basketball hoop — fellows research what the school community needs most and how to fund it.
A 2-acre community plaza serving ~7,500 residents: basketball court, daycare, meeting hall, learning center, and library — and room for much more programming.
Two acres of farmland being transformed into a community park: gardens, outdoor education, and exercise space designed with the residents who will use it.
Fellow projects have included seed lending, a community health clinic, a community garden, technology courses, and a micro-loan program supporting local micro-entrepreneurs. Each fellow chooses a track — Medicine, Business, or Engineering — and develops one site project within it.
Four phases, one semester (plus a summer finish for final presentations and award submissions):
Choose a track and a question. Build a hypothesis, a project plan, a pitch deck — and begin fundraising. Site-visit preparation: interview questions, measurements, meetings.
A ~10-day field trip to Lubao (or a virtual alternative): interviews with the city council, community leaders, families, and students; field notes, photos, demographic and infrastructure data.
Fundraising is a core skill: build a donor list, publish a sponsorship page, record a pitch (typical goal ≈ $3,000 per project). Then execute the research — analysis and graphing in Python/R.
Deliver a research paper and poster, present live before community leaders, university professors, and nonprofit partners, and submit work to awards such as ASLA and science fairs.
The Fellowship is deliberately small and selective — 9 students selected for the first cohort, from high schools including Troy, Northwood, Whitney, Cypress, and Crescenta Valley. Eight fellows completed the full program, presenting their research and fundraising results at the cohort's final presentation. Their projects are already integrated into Cal Poly Pomona's capstone design work for Lubao.
One short application — no essays required. Tell us who you are, your school and grade, and your track of interest.
Watch your email — selected fellows and waitlist decisions go out within the week.
Meet your cohort, your mentors, and the Lubao project. Classes run virtually on Saturdays, 6:00 PM Pacific.
