The Purdue University Office of Experiential Education selects Aaron Thompson as a 2022-23 Experiential Education Champion based on his passion, experience, and impact in creating service-learning opportunities for students. Experiential education is a “planned pedagogy centering on an authentic experience to strengthen students’ knowledge, skills, and abilities, paired with student reflection.” Aaron Thompson, who serves as Director of the Center for Community & Environmental Design (CCED), has led more than 70 service-learning projects since 2018, involving more than 165 Purdue undergraduates and mentoring 20 undergraduate research projects. In addition, he initiated a new partnership between Purdue University and the National Park Service (NPS) that is growing the regional impact and capacity of the CCED to support student-community collaboration.