The Creative Arts Laboratory (CAL) was the embodiment of Lee Pogonowski's teaching philosophy and an outgrowth of her work with the Manhattanville Music Curriculum Project (MMCP). Through frequent workshops and weekly in-class mentoring by CAL Teaching Artists, CAL facilitated teachers' capacities to help students make connections across subject matter areas. In this article I discuss how CAL as a professional development model for integrating the arts into the school curriculum, formed the basis of many of the School-University Partnerships, I developed to connect pre-service music education students with in-service music teachers. Through our partnerships, our students are learning what I learned from Lee and through CAL about the importance of putting students at the center of teaching and learning.