junior program summer site : conversations : first session



	anna from new york (7/24) Anna, a residential student from New York, is entering 4th grade. After writing her own song about being excited for the summer to start, she's glad that the time has come and that she gets to spend it at the Junior Program. Have you been liking Explo so far? On a scale of 1 to 10, I would probably go with a 10. Great! What have you been up to today? Well, so far I’ve had my first mini-course, which was baseball. Then, I had lunch, and now I’m here! Usually we have regular courses, which we do every day except on Wednesdays. On Wednesdays we have mini-courses and you pick two of them. I’m taking baseball and “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Stained Glass”. How was baseball? It was really nice. Today we couldn’t go outside [because of the rain], so we went inside to the field house, which is like an indoor field, and we played a game with a big bouncy ball. What did you play? “Boomer Ball”. It’s just like regular baseball, but with a bigger ball. It was pretty fun. And your next mini-course is “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Stained Glass”? Yeah. I haven’t done that one yet, but I’m very excited. We’re probably going to paint glass or something close to it -- maybe clear plastic or something. What made you decide to choose baseball and stained glass? I chose baseball because I really like sports, and baseball is my favorite sport. I chose “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Stained Glass” because I’m a really good artist and I use paints a lot, so I really want to learn how to make something that’s not stained glass look like stained glass. What are you taking for your two regular courses? I’m taking “School of Rock” and “I Want To Be A Superstar.” They’re really fun. Usually at the end of class in “I Want To Be A Superstar,” we play a game. We’ve been playing a game called “broken telephone”. You get in a line and pick a subject, and you basically just act it out. At the end, we guess what we think it is. Yesterday it was really funny -- it began with peeling a banana and ended at a disco club. What are you hoping to learn from that class? How to improve my acting skills. Somewhere near the end of the session, probably the last week, we’re going to put on a play. It’s probably going to be about 20 minutes, and we’re all going to vote on it. I really want it to be Wicked, because I saw it and it was very nice. Is that your favorite Broadway show? Yeah, that and Mary Poppins. Do you enjoy acting a lot? Yeah. I was in the play Annie. I didn’t really play a person, but I had my own part. I snuck in the room that Mrs. Hannigan was in and I stole a teddy bear and ran out. Then everyone kept saying, we shouldn’t call the play “Annie”, we should call it “Anna”! How is “School of Rock”? It’s really fun. We get guitars. I’m a lefty, so we had to change a guitar to make it work for me. What are you playing? We’re going to play “Brain Stew” by Green Day, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, which I don’t really know, and another song by the Beatles . . . I forget what it sounds like, but that’s the song I’m doing. Have you ever played guitar before? No. But my dad’s a pro at it. Sometimes he goes to restaurants and performs. I’m going to get my guitar when I get back, and I’m going to play it for my dad. Aside from courses, what else have you been up to at Explo? I really like quiet time on my hall. Usually I go to the room next to mine and play “Apples to Apples” with my friends. Tonight we're gonna do a talent show in my dorm. Hopefully, we’ll have enough time to do it tonight. We’re gonna have a lot of fun. What will you be doing in the talent show? I’ll be singing a song I wrote. It’s called “School Days”. It’s about how you can’t wait for the summer to start and stuff. So are you glad that the summer has started now? Yeah. I’m really happy. I couldn’t wait until this summer because this is my first summer at Explo and so far it’s awesome. What are some of your favorite things about Explo? I like the activity periods. I liked doing “ultimate charades” and “Dixie Ball” and “random storytelling”. It was really funny. At the end, we played a game called “slide show”. The activities are awesome; I love it here! Is it easy to make friends here? Yeah, it’s very easy. I’ve made many friends. Usually I’ll talk to anyone that walks by, even some boys! I’m a tomboy, so I play a lot of sports. Like, today, I was the only girl in baseball, and I got three homeruns. We also watched a little Harry Potter, which was really cool. Are you excited about the Harry Potter theme day tomorrow? Yeah. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for my costume. Too bad I didn’t go to the wand making activity. . . What are the staff members like? They’re really nice. If I can’t find something to do during quad time, or if I can’t find a ball to play four-square (which is my favorite thing to do at quad time), they’ll help me come up with something to do, and they usually play with us, too. I like them because they’re young and bright. What are you hoping to accomplish this session? I want to dress up for “Alien Invasion Day”. I like theme days. I’m excited about making friends and taking my classes. You never know what’s going to happen here. Like, at the main event, you might get chosen as a volunteer and get a prize for volunteering. What would be a good mascot for Explo? That’s a tough one. A carrot? No, not a carrot. I was just thinking that because it’s orange like Explo. I think they would be two little green and orange balls of some sort. They would jump around and dance and do silly things. We’re always really happy at Explo, and we’re jumping around all the time -- sometimes we even dance. more conversations > first session \| second session