When I was a teenager I had a bumper sticker on the back of my car that said, “Why be normal?!” I took a great amount of pride in being unique and different from the average person.
What I didn’t know and have learned throughout a lifetime of experiences is that if I am not being normal it means that I am not challenging myself and those around me to push ourselves outside of the box. Skills that would be viewed as an asset by any successful business or future employer to be able to think outside of what is considered “normal”.
When experts in our community come into our space they get to see something that is not considered normal in the education of children. Some examples of what is not considered normal for children and pleasantly surprised the experts that attended our most recent Community Connections event:
- A literature and history professor with USF, was impressed with the courage the kids had to speak to adults with a level of confidence that exceeds what she sees from college students.
- A scientist with NOAA Fisheries was impressed by their ability to ask such high quality questions, that they put a lot of thought into their questions so that they could extract the information they needed.
- A pediatric paramedic and social media star, could not get over the quality experts that our kids have already spoken to for their inquiry projects.
- A pilot for NOAA, was impressed with the research and information that has been gathered for their inquiry projects already.
- A local Florida Native bee, plant, and food forest expert was impressed with their ability and willingness to pivot when provided new information.
- Turtle Jo with Turtle Trackers was so impressed with how well the kids collaborated as a part of these interactions in such a respectful and supportive way.
- The educational manager at Tampa Bay Watch, has taught over 5,000 kids just this year and was absolutely blown away by this group of kids.
- The book buyer with Book & Bottle not only found joy and had fun interacting with our students, but loved that this is a space where creatives can push themselves and develop a skill they are most passionate about.
- The Deputy Director, Supportive Services for Veteran Families shared how depressing the news can be and how spending only an hour in this space with our kids gives her hope. She shared that this needs to be duplicated.
Moments like these remind me that what we have here is not the norm, and that is what we want and need!
What our kids are doing is the exception. In addition to traditional academics, they are working on skills that truly are going to help them in the real world and put them miles ahead of everyone around them.
No, unfortunately it is not normal and yes, it does need to be expanded so that we can create this environment for all kids. If you agree and want to help us make that happen, reach out and let us know that you want to join us and how you can help us make this a reality.