junior program summer site : conversations : second session



	amalia from new york (8/9) Amalia is a 4th grade residential student from New York. She has enjoyed meeting many new friends from all around the world and plans on keeping in touch with them after Explo. This summer she learned many new things, including how to create photographs without using a camera. How did you enjoy Explo this summer? It was really fun because I made a lot of new friends. Do you think you’re going to keep in touch with them? Yes! One of them is actually from New York, too, so she’s going to email me her phone number so we can hang out. Which classes did you take? I took “Lights, Camera, Action!” [moviemaking] and “59 Minutes” [broadcast journalism] for my courses, and for my mini-courses, I took cheerleading and camera-less photography. Cool! What did you do in “Lights, Camera, Action!”? We made movies and we learned how to use a camera, so we’d always be filming. We also had special effects. What were you filming? We made a movie called “Take 33”. It’s about a guy, and he’s making a movie. He makes it really bad, but the producer thinks it’s really funny, because it is funny! What did you do to help make the movie? The main character had to make three movies, and I was in one of them. Sometimes I’d help working with props, and sometimes I’d work behind the camera. I played the evil, bratty bank robber. Which role was your favorite? My favorite was being on camera and working behind the camera. What’s “59 Minutes” about? It’s basically like a news show, and instead of “60 Minutes” we called it “59 Minutes”, but then we renamed our show “The Explo Show”. What did you do to make the show? We interviewed all different kinds of people. We interviewed students. We interviewed people from the Programming Office and other staff members. . . Who did you interview? I interviewed Na’eem, the assembly guy. I asked him about the main events, like how Explo gets them to come here and where they find them and stuff. So, what were some of your favorite main events? My favorite main event was the “Yo-Yo Show”. They were these yo-yo people and they could do so many things with yo-yos! It was really, really impressive. I also liked Movie Night. There were all different choices of movies, and we picked which one we wanted to watch. I picked Cars. Good choice. So aside from your courses, what are some other cool things you’ve done here? Well, there are also lots of activities. There was one activity called “Ooblek relay races”. Ooblek is both a liquid and a solid. If you open your hands it can drip through, but if you close your hand it’s as hard as a rock! Did you get to try anything new this summer? Yes. In one of my mini-courses, I got to take some pictures without any cameras. It was really fun. We used big machines and an almost completely dark room. We had a special piece of paper and we put it under light, but before we put it under light, we put all these objects on it. Then, the light goes through, and you put the paper into all these weird liquids. After you put it into the weird liquids, you put it into water for a while, and when you take it out, you see the picture! That sounds fun. Did you get to go on any cool trips? Yeah! I went on a flying trapeze and that was really fun, and I also got to go to “Wind Tunnels and Windmills”, which is basically skydiving inside a tube! Skydiving inside a tube? Yeah, there was a lot of air coming up, and you’d have all this gear on. Then you’d jump into the tube. You'd put your arms into a certain position, and you’d basically be flying, which is not something that humans would mostly do. Do you think you’ll be coming back to Explo next year? Probably. Most of my friends are too, so I want to see them. Would you recommend Explo to a friend at home? Yes, a lot of my friends. I’d tell them that there are so many things to do! What was one of your favorite parts about Explo? Just hanging out with my hall, and the hall next to us, too. It was really fun. Describe Explo in one word. Excellent! If Explo were a type of animal, what would it be? I think a monkey. Monkeys are fun and they sometimes get crazy, but in a good way. more conversations > first session \| second session