Education
At just fourteen years old, a young girl turned a passion of hers into a thriving profession. To Ashley Priore, founder and CEO, of The Queen’s Gambit Chess Institute, chess isn’t just a game, it’s a model for life. She sees each and every move as a reflection of how we should live our lives; how we need to focus on patience when making decisions and look into the future to see how our current actions may affect us down the road. Ashley emphasizes in her interview that, “your zip code should not determine your opportunities”, and her actions within the institute truly reflect this statement. Her team has worked in developing “Chess Theory”, or, the act of helping communities develop through chess. Through various outreach projects and collaborations with other initiatives in the area, the Queen’s Gambit has led hundreds of events to teach the youth of the Pittsburgh area how to play chess, and instill within them the lifelong lessons that the game provides. Ashley is working to ensure that every person has access to the game, no matter where they live or their current socio-economic situation. Ashley feels that you can’t mend a struggling community by putting bandage after bandage on it. Instead, we should be focusing on supporting and educating the communities from the inside out, and chess is her way of doing that. In just the five years since its inception, The Queen’s Gambit has grown to teaching over 300 students and has partnered with over 50 organizations, and Ashley isn’t stopping until the positive impacts of chess can be spread state-wide and nation-wide. You can learn more about The Queen's Gambit Chess Institute by visiting their website. The Queen's Gambit Chess Institute Twitter: https://twitter.com/queensgambitpgh Ashley's Twitter: https://twitter.com/priore_ashley Ashley's TedTalk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSTHxS-jexc Are you a teacher with a unique story and perspective to share? Email us at humansofteaching@gmail.com for a chance to be on the show! Follow us on Twitter: @HumansOfPodcast We post teasers of every upcoming interview for the month on Twitter for our “Listener Questions” segment. If you have a question for any of our interviewees, make sure to comment you question to our post on Twitter to have it asked live on the show! We are always looking to make Humans of Teaching better and better with each new episode. Please make sure to leave a rating and a comment on what aspects you really enjoy about the podcast and some things that you would change. This podcast was made for you! Be sure to subscribe to Humans of Teaching so you don’t miss a single episode and check out our website to learn more! Thank you all for your continued support.