junior program summer site : conversations : first session



	alex from massachusetts (7/17) Alex is a 7th grader with many positive experiences to take away from Explo. Aside from his memories of awesome trips and main events like Boulder Morty's and the Airborne Commedians, he'll be keeping in touch with all the friends he met in his courses and on his residence hall. What have you been doing for 7th grade graduation celebrations? Well, we just had dinner and it was awesome food! What did you have? I had some appetizers and they were pretty good, I’ll tell you that! I liked the brownies, too. Are you sad to see the session come to an end? Yes, I’m definitely going to miss it. What are you going to miss most? Definitely the people on my residence hall. I live on West Campus and I’m going to miss the friends I’ve made there a lot. Hopefully I’ll keep in touch with them. What have been some of the best highlights of your summer at Explo? Well, we had a lot of cool theme days and main events that were awesome. I liked the Airborne Comedians. That was really cool. They juggled these flaming pins on unicycles; it was really cool. I also liked. . . what was the one that was, like. . . staff improv night. That was pretty cool. How are your classes? They’re awesome, especially my mini-courses. I kind of balanced them out. I’m taking “Mission: Code Breaker” [cryptography], which is a lot of fun. I learned Morse code in that class, and I’ve wanted to learn that for a while. I’m also doing the “CSI: Explo” [forensics + criminal intelligence] course, and that’s awesome. We’ve gotten to learn all about fingerprinting, and we even went to the police station, too. One of my mini-courses is ultimate Frisbee, and it’s a lot of fun. I learned all different ways of how to throw a Frisbee. I’m also taking street luge. That was a real good experience for me because I’ve never gotten to do that anywhere else. Yeah, street luge is definitely hard to come by. Did you go on any cool trips this session? Oh, yeah! I went to the Science Museum; I went to the Big Apple Circus. . . they were all great. All of the trips I went on were awesome. Which was your favorite? It was Boulder Morty’s, the rock climbing gym. It was awesome. I did a lot there. Had you ever been rock climbing before? I had one time, but to do it again was pretty fun. When we got there, we went through the rules and what’s safe and not. The place was pretty big -- we climbed at least five rock-climbing walls by the end, so it was fun. Did you make it to the top? Yup, I got to the top on one of them. Was it hard? So-so. Some walls were harder than others. What do you hope to take home with you after a summer at Explo? A few new friends that I hope to call and say “hi” to, and a lot more confidence than I had back at school. I think I’ve achieved most of that by now. Do you feel like Explo will help you in school? Definitely, both socially and with schoolwork. I learned a lot of stuff that I wouldn’t have learned anywhere else. Like, I learned Morse code and fingerprinting. Who knows, it might come in handy in school. Socially it will help, because you learn how to act your own way. There’s no, “Hey, that’s not cool,” or “That’s stupid,” it’s all about doing whatever you want and it’s cool. How do you like being a residential student? It’s pretty cool. From like 4:00 to 6:00 we get to just hang out. We pretty much do whatever we want. Like, sometimes we listen to music or catch up on a good book . . . even writing stories is great. What are you going to miss most about Explo? I think I’m just going to miss the whole thing. I mean, this was a great experience for me. I really am going to miss it. From just walking around on the quad, to the Numa, which is a dance we do here all the time . . . once you get here it’s easy to get to know. It’s just great. What were you expecting before you came to Explo? I was expecting to do some new experiences, like street luge. I’ve seen some new people. People come here from all over the world, and I wanted to meet some people that speak different languages. I mean, I have a roommate that speaks another language, and he’s teaching me how to speak Korean. It’s amazing! Has Explo lived up to your expectations? Definitely, and more. It’s awesome. If someone reading this were thinking about going to Explo, what would you say to them? I would say, “Come here!” Whatever you’re looking for, you’ll definitely find it here. It’s amazing. Would you have any advice for them? Find some new friends to hang out with. I mean, you can go up to anyone and just say, “Hey, what’s up?!”, interact with them, and before you know it, bam! You have a new friend. It’s amazing. You do new things, you meet new people. . . the staff is great. . . it’s just an all-around good time. What are you looking forward to in the last few days of the session? There’s another theme day coming up tomorrow, and I’m excited to see what’s in store for the end of my courses. In CSI, we had a crime scene and we did a lot of photography and documenting of evidence. We narrowed down the suspects, and we’re going to have a court trial and accuse this guy of messing up a room. Do you feel confident that you know who did it? Yeah, he definitely messed the room up. We got all the evidence we could find and then a little more. If Explo were a type of food, what would it be? A pizza! It’s got a little everything, and sometimes a lot of everything. more conversations > first session \| second session