junior program summer site : conversations : first session



	lucas from pennsylvania (7/3) Lucas is a 7th grader from Pennsylvania and he's here at Explo for his first summer. Whether he's preparing international cuisine, tossing the football, or building Explo's biggest block tower, you can be sure that he's taking advantage of the large selection of courses and activities that Explo offers. But don't expect him to tell you the secrets behind his magic tricks! What have you been up to today? Well, today is mini-course day, which is good because we get to wake up later. What are mini-courses? Mini-courses are courses that you just take on Wednesdays. They’re courses that you want to just explore what the subject is . . . maybe for the first time. I’m taking flag football because I like football, and I wanted to have some physical activity. I like to play football, like, in my back yard, but I don’t really know how to play it competitively. Today we learned how to pitch the ball, different ways to punt the ball, and how to be a good teammate -- like being nice to your teammates and listening for their suggestions and giving constructive criticism when it’s needed. Which mini-course do you have next? I’m taking world cooking. Do you cook a lot at home? Yeah, I really like to cook. I think it’s fun. I like to cook Italian food, because that’s my favorite kind of food . . . like, pastas and dipping oils and different things like that. What were some of your expectations of Explo before you came? I expected to have a lot of fun and make new friends, and that’s exactly what I’ve done so far. Explo has exceeded my expectations! I’ve met like a lot of great new people and I’ve been having an extremely fun time here. What made you decide to come to Explo? My neighbors -- their daughter went to Explo and she said it was a great program, so I decided to try it. I’ve never been to an overnight summer program so I wanted to go. I don’t really like the outdoorsy, cabin-in-the-woods type of camps, but I like the dorm life of Explo and that kind of atmosphere. What’s it like being a residential student? My residence hall is really nice, and I have really nice RAs, which are people that watch over us while we’re in our dorms. It’s been really great. I’ve made a couple new friends -- Kurt, Brian, Andrew . . . well, three Andrews actually. I’ve made a few friends that are day students from the Boston area, and I’ve also met someone from South Carolina. Pretty much all over the place. One of the kids I met is from Korea, and another kid in my dorm is from France. Which courses are you taking? I’m taking “Explo Building Company” [woodworking] and “Focused Hocus Pocus” [magic]. In “Explo Building Company” we’ve been starting a plaque with our name on it, which is looking pretty good. In “Focused Hocus Pocus” we’ve been learning a few tricks. My teacher is Standish and he really teaches us, like, how to perform and stuff like that -- like, different ways to trick the audience, mind tricks, and misleading acts. We learned how to melt a coin through the table, we learned how to fake a dog out with a ball, we learned how to levitate a pencil in mid air . . . Woah, how did you do that?! Uh, I can’t really reveal my tricks, can I? [Laughs] I guess not. It sounds like you’ve been impressed with your courses so far, though. Yeah, they’ve been really fun. I’ve been really impressed with the teachers and how nice they are. How are Explo courses different than your classes at school? Well, classes at school are more strict. They have homework and things that you have to do and, like, it’s just not as fun. At Explo you’re pretty much free to try whatever you want. You get a lot of freedom here. What activities have you done so far? I played giant volleyball, and we also made a big straw tower without using our hands or our mouths. How? We would pick it up either with our feet, or, well, we all had different strategies. My strategy was to pick it up with my elbows. Oh, I also helped make Explo’s biggest block tower out of Jenga blocks. It was 4’11”. How is the food at Explo? It’s actually really good. I was surprised ‘cause I’m like a picky eater. Today we had chicken nuggets and they were some of the best chicken nuggets I’ve ever eaten. Last night I had chicken parmesan. They also have a really good salad bar. If Explo were a type of food, what would it be? Definitely something sweet -- more like a dessert, because it’s the best part of the meal and it’s really fun. Vanilla cake with chocolate icing because that’s my favorite dessert. I think dessert is the best part of the meal, and Explo is the best part of the summer. more conversations > first session \| second session