junior program summer site : conversations : first session



	issei from japan (7/19) Issei is a Pioneer residential student from Japan. As a huge baseball fan, it's no wonder why he's taking "Baseball Bosses", a course on business and sports, as well as the baseball mini-course. Issei has found his time at Explo to be "fabulous, amazing, and fun." Is this your first summer at Explo? Yes. How do you like it? It’s good. Which classes are you taking? I’m taking “Baseball Bosses” and “Big Dig Challenge”, and woodworking and baseball for my mini-courses. What have you been doing in “Baseball Bosses”? We’ve been making uniforms and stadiums and other cool stuff. Cool. What are you making those for? We created our own teams, and we got to design our home stadium. I made mine in Hawaii. It’s a dome because it rains a lot there, and it’s quite big. My uniforms have a logo on the right top, and below is the player's number. We’re called “The Honolulu Dragons”. You’re taking “Baseball Bosses” and the baseball mini-course. Sounds like you're a big baseball fan. Yup. I don’t play too much, but I still like it. How’s “Big Dig Challenge”? It’s good. We use Legos to learn about how people dig tunnels. We build cars, and the car needs to have at least four wheels. We also built dump trucks to carry dirt. We use computers to program the cars. We programmed ours to go forward for four seconds. What do you like about your classes at Explo? I like that we can enjoy them. We can laugh and do fun things. At my school in Japan, it’s not as fun. Our teacher doesn’t let us talk -- even a little. You have to always raise your hand, and we don’t get to talk very much. At Explo, we get to talk a lot, and it’s fun. What have you been making in your woodworking mini-course? We made plaques. Mine looks like a house. We made them by cutting with the saws, then we painted it. What is it like being a residential student? It’s fun because we can hang out together and have fun during “quiet time”. We can play games. What do you like to do during “quiet time”? I like to play Connect Four with my friends. Have you made many new friends here? Yup. I’ve met a lot of day students, and lots of other residential students. And I’ve met people from Korea, Brazil, and more. At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to make friends here. But now, I’ve made lots of friends. Have you met anyone else from Japan? Yup. I met a kid who lives near the park near my house. What were your favorite trips this summer? My favorites were Canobie Lake Park and Water Country. Canobie Lake is an amusement park, and there were lots of roller costers. The one that we rode on, the Frisbee, was really cool. It could go 180 degrees. They also had a ride called “zero gravity” and some games. I like amusement parks a lot. What’s Water Country like? It’s a water park and there are so many water slides that were so long. My favorite one was a ride where we all went together in a big huge tube. It was hot that day, so it felt good to go in the water. Where else did you go on trips? I went to the [New England] Aquarium and on a Duck Tour. At the aquarium, we saw sharks, turtles, fish, and other amazing creatures, like penguins. My favorites were the turtles. What have been some of your favorite activities? I really like whiffleball because we could bat, but I didn’t like playing with the “five-run rule”. I pretty much like all the activities. There are so many to choose from. If you were to describe Explo to a friend at home, how would you describe it? Fabulous, amazing, and fun. It’s the best program I’ve ever been to. I like that there are lots of things to do. I like to do sports. There are a lot to choose from. I also like to do art. Have you tried any new sports here? Yeah, I tried football and I liked it. What do you think you are going to miss the most about Explo? My friends and the staff. The staff is funny and athletic. They’re silly and goofy. If Explo were a type of animal, what would it be? A cheetah or a lion. They are both the top of the food chain, and Explo is at the top of the summer program chain. more conversations > first session \| second session