why Explo who we are history of Explo – inspiration – evolution – today our students find out more

the evolution of exploration Exploration began as a small day program on the campus of Brandeis University in 1976. The initial response to the Program was overwhelming and Exploration doubled in size each of the next two years. Although just a day program, more and more out-of-state students were enrolling in the Program and staying with relatives in the local area. In response to this trend, Exploration moved its summer home to the campus of Wellesley College in 1979 and added a residential component to the Program. The move to Wellesley College allowed Exploration to reinvent itself. Suddenly, staff and students at the Program had access to both top-flight academic facilities and residential facilities. The addition of a base of residential students allowed the Program to expand its late-afternoon, evening, and weekend options, including trips into Boston and throughout the New England Area. Our faculty became even more involved in the lives of our students; in addition to being instructors in the classroom, they were now able to supervise learning in all stages of the day as both residential advisors (RAs) and extracurricular coaches. This new level of supervision helped facilitate a true community of learners at Exploration. Ideas that were brought up in a classroom spilled over into dinner conversations and evening debates. Day students began staying later and joining residential students on weekend trips. The Exploration campus became a summer hub of ideas, activity, and inspiration, attracting students from across the country and around the world. As Exploration’s success continued, parents and students began inquiring about similar programs for middle school students. In 1983, Exploration started the Intermediate Program for students entering middle school. (The high school program was renamed the Senior Program.) Although the Intermediate and Senior Programs were both located on Wellesley College and shared classroom spaces, the Programs existed in separate residential quadrangles and were programmed to meet the unique developmental needs of the different age groups. The Intermediate and Senior Programs thrived at Wellesley College, and, before long, parents and students began inquiring about an Exploration program for students in elementary school. In 1994, Exploration started the Junior Program for elementary school students on the campus of St. Mark’s School, a college preparatory boarding school in Southborough, Massachusetts. St. Mark’s picturesque campus (including 250 acres of fields, woodlands, and ponds) provides a perfect combination of outstanding academic and recreational facilities for our students, and the Junior Program has tailored the Exploration experience into the perfect match for students entering grades 4+5 and 6+7. In 2001, after sharing the campus of Wellesley College with the Intermediate Program for 18 years, the Senior Program moved to the campus of Yale University. The move allowed the Senior Program to enhance its extracurricular offerings, expanded the number of available classrooms for both the Senior and Intermediate Programs (which had shared facility space at Wellesley), and gave high school students an opportunity to spend the summer in a more urban, Ivy League setting. Now on three separate campuses, Exploration offers students a natural progression as they move through our Programs. Elementary school students attend the Junior Program at St. Mark’s School, a college preparatory school; middle school students attend the Intermediate Program at Wellesley College, a small liberal arts college; and high school students attend the Senior Program at Yale University, a world-class university.

Exploration Summer Programs is operated by Exploration School, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)3 educational organization. | Privacy Policy