junior program summer site : conversations : second session



	nicole from florida (8/7) Nicole is a Pioneer residential student attending for her first summer at the Junior Program. She is excited to perform in her class's play "The Golden Goose" for Off-Broadway Night. Is this your first summer at Explo? It is. How are you liking it? I’m having lots of fun. What’s the most fun? The most fun part about Explo is getting to be with all your friends a lot of the time. I’ve made a lot of new friends. My whole living group is now my best friend, and I’ve met a lot of people in my courses and stuff like that. Is it easy to make friends at Explo? It is. It’s very easy. When you get here, it makes you so happy, so you get really friendly and you spend a lot of time with the people around you, so they become your friends. It’s easier to make friends at Explo than at school. How else is Explo different from school? At Explo we learn things while having lots of fun and doing different activities. At school you just sit down and you learn things and write it down. I think it’s very good that Explo does it this way. I think that I learn better when I’m having fun, because I remember things a lot better when I’m having a good time. Speaking of learning, which courses are you taking? My courses are “School of Rock” [electric guitar] and “I Want to Be a Superstar” [drama + acting]. How are they going? Well, in “School of Rock” we’re putting on a show for Off-Broadway Night, which is tomorrow. It’s really fun because I didn’t really know how to play guitar when I got here, and now I’m actually really good at it. In “I Want to Be a Superstar”, we’re also doing a play for Off-Broadway Night. It’s a really fun play, and I’m happy with my part and stuff. It has been a lot of fun. What is your play called? It’s called "The Golden Goose". What is your part in it? I’m one of the five people that gets stuck on this goose. I have to walk around singing this chant with five other people, and then we meet up with this other person who we have to make laugh, and that’s really about it. Have you learned anything new about acting? We’ve been learning lots of stuff, like how we have to speak loudly and how the audience always has to see your body -- never turn your back on the audience. Make sure the audience can hear you, and also, just speaking is not enough -- you have to use your body at the same time. Do you do a lot of acting on your own, or did you just want to try something new at Explo? Well, I’ve never actually done acting before, so I really just wanted to see how it was so that I would know how it works and stuff. This is actually really new for me. Have you tried any other new things here? Well, another thing that was new was that I’ve never been to a sleep-away program before. I’ve never been away from home for so long. Some of the foods I had never tried, also. How is the food? The food is really good here. There’s always a variety of foods, so if you don’t like the main food, there’s always vegetables or pasta or something else. Some of my favorite meals have been the barbeque nights, because I love hamburgers and stuff. Last night there was beef and broccoli, and I liked that. How has your first overnight experience been? It’s been really good. I didn’t expect to be having this much fun and everything. I’m having a much better time than I thought I would. Was the adjustment to an overnight program difficult for you? It was a little bit difficult for the first couple days, but then I got the hang of it and it was really easy! It was so much fun that I forgot about missing my family and everything. I’m really happy that I did it. Would you recommend Explo to a friend at home? Yes, I would! I’d tell them about all the courses you can pick from. I’d tell them how every day you could try different kinds of activities, so you’ll never be stuck with the same kind if you don’t like them. You get to hang out with your friends a lot and the food is good. What have been some of your favorite main events? My favorite main events so far were both talent shows [Pioneer + Voyager] and the “Bubble Show”. The “Bubble Show” was this guy that did all these different tricks with blowing bubbles and making shapes and stuff. It was really cool. Been on any great trips? My favorite trip was “Wind Tunnels and Windmills”. We went skydiving, but not really skydiving. It was in a vertical wind tube and I really felt like I was flying. We had to get into these big jumpsuits, and we had to put on helmets, sneakers, and earplugs . . . Before we went in, we learned how to stand and what to do so that we wouldn’t fall. Describe Explo in one word. Fantabulous! What will your best memory of Explo be? First, going skydiving, but also all the friends that I’ve made and how much fun it was, and how not scary it was to be away from home. Is there anything you want to accomplish in the last few days of the session? I want to try to finish the song that I’m working on in “School of Rock”. I want to try to really do the best I can with the play we’re doing in “I Want to Be a Superstar”. What song are you playing in your guitar class? I’m playing a song on the guitar called “Danny California”. I can’t do it on Off-Broadway Night because we’re all doing a group song together. That’s the song that I was learning, though, and I really want to finish it. Do you feel like you’ve learned a lot about guitar? Yes, I do. About two years ago, I played the guitar, but then I stopped and switched to violin. So I sort of knew a little bit about guitar when I got here, but I definitely did get a lot better. If Explo were a type of animal, what would it be? I have two answers for this. It could be a lion since there are lions all over St Mark’s campus, but it could also be a penguin. I think you could do anything with a penguin and it couldn’t hurt you. Whatever you do at Explo, you’ll always be having fun. It can’t hurt you in any way; it can only help you. more conversations > first session \| second session