Parents seek for their children "something other" than what they usually expect them to acquire through the regular school program, and they turn to extracurricular activities and out-of-school experiences to find it. Teachers know that each student brings to a learning task a "something other"--certain attributes that affect how the student responds to the challenge. In this paper, the "something other" is the constellation of four personal competencies--cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and social/emotional--and the learning habits that flow from them. Jeffrey's story, which depicts a week in the life of one student, in one class, with one teacher, expresses the four personal competencies. The reader might imagine how Jeffrey's life as a learner would be changed if the school culture, all the teachers in all his classes, and his parents were attuned to the importance of personal competencies.