Today was a typical day at school for TG.

She got to meet and talk with a chess grandmaster and three chess masters.

She also had a class on personal finance that included learning about not only occupations and their attendant salaries, but also the costs (both obvious and hidden) of living in various parts of the St. Louis area.  She got to try out several different occupations and salaries, plus living arrangements and even transportation options, and how to budget for all of those.

She also learned about and had a chance to practice West African and Caribbean dance styles.

She also had the traditional reading, writing, and arithmetic, and computer science, and morning meeting, and oh, I guess, her school isn’t exactly traditional.

This week she’ll also have cooking and leadership development and girl boss, where the girls learn entrepreneurial skills.

A few weeks ago they had the “Hot Women/Cool Jobs” career fair, where the girls got to meet women in a variety of industries and make professional contacts.  One of the cool women was a news anchor who filmed a story about TG’s class project on homelessness that culminated in a toiletry drive and donating the toiletries to a local homeless shelter. The newswoman followed the story because a student asked her if she would.

Maybe TG will start to recognize that the commonplace learning opportunities at her school aren’t commonplace at all.

But I won’t hold my breath.