junior program summer site : conversations : first session



	delaney from washington (7/31) Delaney is a 6th grade residential student who is back for her third year at Explo. Her favorite part about Explo are the trips. She even got to try skydiving! Is this your first summer at Explo? It’s actually my third. What is it that keeps bringing you back? I think it’s just fun to meet new people and try all these new things. Like, I just went skydiving, which I thought was awesome! Skydiving?! Yeah! It was actually in a wind tunnel. They blew really hard wind at us, so it made us fly. We jumped into the tube, and then we started to fly! We had an instructor help us and show us the correct form and it was really fun. We pretty much just floated around in the air. Cool trip! What was your other trip? I went to Heifer International. What’s that? It’s a place where you can learn about poverty and go around in a “Global Village,” and you see what the homes are like for people in different countries like Guatemala. We got to see how they live, which was very different. I also learned that some kids in other parts of the world, and even some in the United States, aren’t getting enough vitamin A, so they can’t see very well. Later, we cooked outside and used stuff from their organic garden. What did you cook? We cooked bean soup and tortillas. We were eating a traditional Guatemalan meal, so we prepared it how they would have. We made it outside on a fire that we made. We gathered logs and sticks, but we did use matches. Aside from trips, what else do you like about Explo? I really love the courses, and how there is never only one thing or subject that you only learn. It’s all different subjects. I take all different kinds of courses. Which courses are you taking? “Bend, Flex, Move. . . Dance!” [hip-hip dance] and “Reel Life Stories” [documentary filmmaking] for my two regular courses, and archery and swimming lessons for my mini-courses. What are you doing in hip-hop dance? We’re learning some dances for “Off-Broadway Night”. The dance is kind of confusing and fast, but I’ll get it pretty soon. What made you decide to take that class? I really like to dance. I mean, I’ve done other types of dance, but I’ve never tried hip-hop. What’s “Reel Life Stories”? We’re making a documentary. Our documentary is on the Explorer. We go around asking people questions, and then we edit the documentary on the computer. We’ve interviewed all the people we need to and we’re going to start editing tomorrow. How were your mini-courses today? They were really fun. Archery was my favorite, I think. I’ve never thought of archery as a hobby to do for fun -- I’ve only ever thought of it as, like, shooting animals and stuff. What do you like about mini-courses? I like that they’re longer classes and you get more time to do fun things. What’s the food like at Explo? It’s a lot better than I thought it would be. It’s really good. It’s different everyday, and they have a deli bar and a salad bar, so they have a lot to choose from. What’s it like being a residential student? It’s a lot of fun. You always get to stay later. I hang out with my residence hall a lot. During “quiet time” we laugh and play board games like Uno and stuff. What’s it like living with a roommate? My roommate is awesome! It’s not hard to live with a roommate, especially if you like them. I’m glad they picked the right one for me! Is it easy to make friends here? It is. There are so many different people, and a lot of them like the same things that you do. I’ve made friends with both residential and day students. There are a lot of people from different places -- like, my hall is from all over the place. I have a lot of friends from different countries and different states. My roommate is actually from Korea, but I’ve also met people from Japan, China, Germany, England. . . all over. If you had to pick one favorite part about Explo, what would it be? The trips! Usually, on school trips, you just go to a museum and talk about boring stuff. Here, you get to do all this really cool stuff! Some of my favorite trips have been Water Country, skydiving and mini-golf. . . Canobie Lake Park was really fun too. And right now I’m at Lazer Zone! It’s a place where we get to play laser tag, and it’s really cool. Would you recommend Explo to a friend at home? I definitely would. It’s the coolest thing ever! A lot of my friends have never gone away from home, so I would really encourage them to do it. Explo is great because you can meet new people and just not be in the same place. I would tell them about all the different things you get to do, which are way better that sitting at home and being bored. If Explo were to have a mascot, what would it be? I think a compass would be really cool. It’s all about finding a new way. When I first came to Explo, I had only been away from home once, and it was my first time being with people I didn’t know. I was really branching out. At Explo, you learn new things and go in a different direction than how you usually go. . . and it has been great! more conversations > first session \| second session