junior program summer site : conversations : first session



	zoe from connecticut (7/11) Zoe is a fifth grade Pioneer from Connecticut. Explo has sparked a new interest for her in journalism, and she enthusiastically recommends Explo to anyone and everyone. Why, you ask? Aside from choosing from awesome courses, trips, and activities, she'll tell you firsthand that "It's just a great place!" How do you like Explo? It’s really fun. I like it here! Which classes are you taking? “Hot Off the Press” and “From Sherlock to Sudoku”. In “Hot Off the Press” we’re writing a newspaper that’s coming out next week. What are you doing for the newspaper? I interviewed the Dean’s Office; another girl in my group is writing about the Numa; and another girl in my group interviewed Explo Man and the Black Ninja of Destruction. Ninja what? Who are they? Explo Man is Explo’s superhero and the Black Ninja of Destruction is his nemesis. They just kind of showed up one day and everyone knew who he was. They came on superhero day. That must have been an interesting interview! How did your interview with the Dean’s Office go? It was cool. We asked them what they did in their free time, their favorite sport, where they work . . . What did they say? Saeed and Molly work on West Campus as RD’s, and Melissa is a Main Campus RD. Saeed likes to play Monopoly, and he hasn’t lost since he was like five years old. Molly likes Taboo and Scattergories, and Melissa . . . she likes science. What are you going to do now that you’ve interviewed them? I get to write an article about them and what they like to do, and then it’s going to go in the newspaper. What’s the newspaper called? Truly Awesome Explo. Aside from writing the article, what else do you have to do to make the newspaper? We’re going to take pictures and put them in, lay it out, and then we have to edit and organize it. Then we can print it and hand them out to everyone. We’re doing the layout and editing on the computers. Is journalism a career that you’re interested in? Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. I think I might want to do it because it’s really fun and I like to write. It’s fun finding out more about it and getting to interview people. So your other class -- “From Sherlock to Sudoku” -- what’s that class about? We do, like, logic puzzles, and we talk about logic and math. We were talking about gravity today, and how if you drop two things, which one will fall first. We learned that unless it’s like paper and it hits the air, both objects will hit the ground at the same time. Did you test it out? Yeah. We threw a stuffed monkey and a geometry textbook at the same time and they both hit the ground at the same time. I’ll bet the textbook made more noise, though! What else have you been doing? We’ve been playing logic puzzles . . . and we played a guessing game on the first day. We had to guess what was inside the towel. What was inside the towel? [Giggles.] The stuffed monkey! Which mini-courses did you take yesterday? I’m taking karate and sculpture. Karate was cool -- we kicked and punched. In sculpture, we practiced on the first day by making anything we wanted out of clay. Yesterday, we went to the pond on West Campus and watched, like, frogs and bugs, then we went to the classroom and made the animals we saw out of metal . . . like, wire. I made a mosquito, a bug, and a clock. Why a clock? I don’t know, because I couldn’t think of anything else to do, and it’s easy to make a circle. How was mini-golfing last night? It was cool. We went inside to the golf place . . . well, I guess it was outside but it had a roof over it, so it was sort of indoors. One girl in my group got a hole-in-one! It went up the hill and then hit the wall, then hit the wall, then hit the wall, and then it went in. It was hanging by the edge of the hole and then it fell in, so everyone cheered. It was really cool. That hole had a cool log tunnel, and then there was another hole that, when you hit it into the hole, it would bring the ball to a floor down below. What did you do after mini-golf? We got ice cream! I got chocolate chip cookie dough on a cone. Sprinkles? No, I don’t really like sprinkles that much. Have you enjoyed the main events? I liked the painting guy [Amazing Hero Art]. I saw him once at school but it was fun seeing him a second time. He was a speed painter and he would just paint really fast -- in like, less than two minutes. He would, like, paint, and he could just do it really fast. He also did this thing with a rose where he turned a piece of plastic, like a grocery bag, into a rose. He made it float in the air, then he put it in the cup and it came out as a real rose. What do you like to do with your residential group? It’s fun. We love to play games together and stuff. I just have so much fun! My RA’s are Bethany and Jessica, and they’re nice. Jessica giggles a lot. Like, after every sentence she’ll laugh. I don’t know why, she just laughs! I know they’re there to help us if we need them. Would you recommend Explo to a friend at home? Yeah, I actually already have three friends that want to come to Explo next year. I told them about the courses and they said, “Ooh, that sounds fun! I want to come next year!” I also told them about how you can sleep over here and how that’s fun. What would you say to someone reading this interview that might be thinking about coming to Explo? I’d probably say, “You really want to go; it’s a lot of fun.” You can choose your classes and your activities. They have some really weird names, but they’re really fun to do! The main event is something different everyday, and they’re really exciting. On the weekends you get to go on different trips too, which are all fun. If Explo were a type of animal, what would it be? Probably a dog, because they’re really fun and energetic and they’re always doing something -- just like Explo. You can play with everyone. It’s just a great place. more conversations > first session \| second session