Shaking hands with Barack Obama isn’t how most high school students earn government class credit. Then again, there’s nothing average about the way Savannah Randall made it to graduation.

Randall is a student at Alger Learning Center and Independent High School, a nationally-accredited private school that offers both local and distance learning through student-created and school-approved contracts.

Directed study and distance learning are nothing new for Randall, who has been home-schooled since kindergarten.

At age five, Randall’s mother, Elizabeth Herbert, pulled Randall from a private school she was attending near their Las Vegas home after just three weeks. She said after witnessing the private school’s poor curriculum, home schooling became a plausible but temporary alternative.

Herbert had previously taught both kindergarten and sixth-grade students, and home schooling rekindled that love for teaching. She said the only reason she sought a certified program was to assure Randall received a state-issued high school diploma.

For Herbert, keeping Randall aware of the world around her was always a priority.

Randall said she does not regret her untraditional education. Because of her social and outgoing personality, she was able to go to homecoming celebrations as well as prom. It was like going to high school without all the pettiness, she said.

Randall said her time with Alger gave her a chance to apply herself in situations most high school students don’t have.

At the high school, every 125 study hours equal one credit. Students need 19 credits, a state requirement, to receive a diploma. Alger students can even use past studies to use as credit hours once they are enrolled with the high school.

Along with her volunteerism for the Obama campaign, Randall was able to earn credit hours from when she was 14, helping out with Sen. John Kerry’s campaign. Politics have always been an affinity of Randall’s, along with reading.

In 2006, Randall earned English credits while attending a four-day Harry Potter symposium. She was able to create and hand in a journal filled with reflections of the countless guest speakers there.

“I was just soaking it in,” she said.

To earn physical education credits, Randall took dance lessons. Instead of filling her contract with basic science study, Randall said she chose astronomy. For study hours, she spent the summer with her aunt visiting the planetarium.

Randall said having free reign to choose most of what she studied in high school helped her maintain many fundamentals of learning that most students lose in the public system.

“There was always an emphasis on things I liked,” she said.

Randall said she didn’t lose her love for reading because it never felt assigned or required in her curriculum.

She currently has 19 books checked out at the library.

Randall said she also enjoys English. Her sophomore year she logged nearly 400 hours of English study — an achievement that launched her from sophomore to senior status.

Randall said students her age from the public school system are often jealous of the freedom she has.

“I can do schoolwork in my pajamas,” she said.

Randall has met students who are wary of the word “home school” but she said she is quick to mention she is very diligent in her study.

There won’t be any caps and gowns at her graduation, but Randall said she is confident it will be a meaningful experience. She said she has heard students bond quickly, despite the fact that most have never met each other.

Randall plans to attend a community college to get basic requirements taken care of before pursuing a vocal performance degree at a larger university like New York University or The Boston Conservatory.