intermediate program summer site : conversations : first session



	Ian from North Carolina (7/14) Ian, or lovingly called "Dreadlock" here at Intermediate, is entering 8th grade come fall and is giving Chemistry and Medical Careers a try while he's here. In fact, he's trying a lot of new things, including Improv Acting, which has turned out to be super fun for him. We chatted after lunch in Beebe about what it feels like to wrap up this summer at Explo. So, Ian, what grade will you be going into this fall? 8th grade – the top of middle school. The thing that’s nice about Explo is that in school it’s harder to make friends with a different grade group because you’re always separate, but here you’re going into 8th or 9th grade – so most of the friends I have here, I don’t even know what grade they’re in unless I ask them. We can still be friends and there’s not that problem here. Yeah, everyone kind of mixes together. How are you liking your courses? I’m taking Chemistry and I’m liking it a lot. I’m seizing the opportunity to learn about chemistry before I actually take my official first class in 8th grade. So I’m learning about the periodic table right now – a student actually had the chance to be the teacher today and teach us about the periodic table. So I learned a lot about that and different things like solubility... flammable stuff. [laughs] And in addition to that I’m in Medical Careers. In that we’ve been dissecting quite a few things. The only thing I had dissected before this class was a squid, but this class has boosted my experience: so far I’ve dissected a frog, a heart, an eye, and tomorrow a rat. Cool! Have you had other favorite moments in class or in a workshop? My favorite workshop has definitely been Improv Acting. I had a lot of fun in improv because I got to do whatever the first thing was that came into my head. I have a lot of fun doing that kind of thing. I signed up for improv because I had never done it before: my dad and mom told me to try out different things and find out what I really like. What are you looking forward to in this last week? I’m looking forward to keeping all these friends, getting their contacts and keeping in touch with them. I’m also looking forward to a great End of Session kind of thing, like Cruise Night and the ceremonies. Those will be nice. How do those kinds of fun things balance out the academic classes? They’re really awesome because on a normal day I would feel after the classes and workshops that the day is over, but here I think there’s still main event, there are still activities, there’s still Period 5. There’s a lot to do here during the whole day. And the trips are just amazing. I wouldn’t expect this kind of program to provide such great trips. What was your favorite trip? My favorite trip would probably be Six Flags, because I went on five rollercoasters that were really fun. Before I was really afraid of rollercoasters, but this time I just enjoyed the thrill. I also liked Comedy Day here because we did improv games for eight hours. That’s a-ma-zing! Well, we went for ice cream... then we came back and played more improv games. How do you think you will explain Explo to your friends back home? I’d say, Explo is not what you think it is. Other summer programs are a lot different because here, we get time to ourselves and time to get to know everyone – like Crew Time and Community Meeting. And with all the different courses, it’s also an academic opportunity. You’ll get many firsts, like my first time with Chemistry, my first time in Improv. Because there are so many classes you could choose from, you’ll get so many experiences from each. And it’s best to try something new because you’ll never know what you’ll really like. more conversations > First Session \| Second Session