intermediate program summer site : conversations : second session



	zoe from massachusetts (7/31) Zoe is a chef, soccer player, and pianist getting ready to enter 8th grade. She's happy to be back at Explo for a second session and excited for Cruise Night as well as the restaurant she'll be running for her "Makin' Dough" class. She really loves being a day student at Explo but is hoping to come back next year as a residential student! So, how do you like Explo this year? I like it. There’s more free time than there is at the Junior Program. There are less, like, organized activities at 4:30. Here you can do whatever you want -- like, you can go to the Vil. Tell me about the classes you’re taking. I’m taking “Makin’ Dough” and “Trash or Treasure”. What have you been doing in those? Well, on Monday in “Makin’ Dough” we made garnishes -- so, like, with oranges and carrots and peppers. We used orange peel and made knots, and we used peppers to make decorative looking triangles and things. Is that in preparation for something? Yeah, ‘cuz we’re making a restaurant. That’s exciting! What’s the restaurant going to be like? It’s going to be a French bistro. It’s going to be called “Café X”, and we’re going to serve French food. The appetizers we're going to have are mushroom pockets and onion with Swiss cheese crunchy toppings. We made four different appetizers in class on Tuesday and then we chose which ones we liked best. That sounds like an awesome class! How’s “Trash or Treasure”? We made something wearable. I made a bracelet out of a plastic bottle and Band-Aids. It actually looks pretty cool! Now we’re making self-portraits that aren’t exactly like pictures of us -- they're conceptual portraits. What’s yours? I haven’t done much yet, but I painted the background green and textured it with a sponge. And then my hair is going to be made out of leaves. What mini-course did you have this morning? “Chinese Culture and Cooking”. We made a sort of Chinese spaghetti and meatballs with Asian noodles. They were chicken meatballs with garlic and ginger and soy sauce in a soy sauce broth with cabbage and spinach. And then we made noodles too, and it ended up like a stir-fry with noodles, vegetables -- mushrooms, baby-corn, water-chestnuts, stuff like that. So, you’re taking two cooking classes. Have you cooked a lot before? Um, yeah. I like cooking. My friend and I do cook-offs sometimes. I always win the main course and she always wins the dessert. We do it like Iron Chef does with secret ingredients and stuff. That sounds like fun! Have you been on any trips the session? I went to the Salem Witch Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. I’d been to both before, but I hadn’t seen the “Cry Innocent” play, which was really cool. We asked the witnesses questions and got to vote on whether the witch should go on to the next trial. Did you ask any questions? Yeah, but it didn’t really help. I asked why she scratched one of the witnesses’ son’s face, but she had a two-second answer so that didn’t help. So this is your second session this year. How have you found meeting new people? It’s been good. I’ve made a few new friends. I knew my friend Hannah before Explo, and then six people in my day group were actually here last session too. What’s your favorite thing about being a day student? You can choose if you’re too tired and go home, or you can stay for the main event if you want to. Or you can spend the night. Have you stayed for many main events? Yes, I’ve stayed every day except Board Game Night, weekend main events and . . . yeah, that’s it. And tonight I’m going roller skating. Have you tried anything new this year at Explo? Yeah, I tried meditation last session. It was cool. It kind of hurt ‘cuz it was hard sitting in the same pose for twenty minutes, and then it was more relaxing. And then I’m doing volleyball next period, which I haven’t been able to do before. So what are you looking forward to this session? Well, the restaurant for my class. We get to pick where it is, the name, what food we serve, what napkin folds we have. We’re going to try and have it by the lake. And Cruise Night next week, that was really fun last session. And who or what exactly is Paddy O’Furniture? Patty O’ Furniture! He’s an Explo character -- the largest leprechaun in the world and international film star here for the Explo Film Festival. AND he’s protecting us from Edward V. Kerrington III Esquire, another Explo character who's evil. more conversations > first session \| second session