junior program summer site : conversations : first session



	Tiger from Japan (7/10) While it's only Tiger's first year at Explo, he had friends within the first hour. He's jumped into Explo easily, whether it's constructing roller coasters in "Thrill Rides" or directing music videos in "GarageBand." So what did you do yesterday? Yesterday I went to Roller Kingdom. I had lots of fun there. We got to choose between rollerblades and rollerskates, and I chose rollerblades cause I'm not good with rollerskates. We got to eat some pizza and had Sprite. It was really fun. What about before the trips, during the day? I had my classes. I take “Garageband” and “Thrill Rides.” In the music video class (“Garageband”), we actually got to go to the costume room and picked out costumes to shoot the video. In Lego engineering we got to build some roller coasters with loops. So what's your music video about? It's about an evil wizard. The evil wizard is taking the actor in the music video to different places, like the North Pole. Then there's a hero in the video who's supposed to take that actor back to where they were. And how do you make the roller coasters in “Thrill Rides?” It's really fun, but it's really hard to make. It's really hard when you make a loop, especially, because you don't know how much speed it takes for it to succeed. So what does the word “Explo” mean? I think Explo means to explore, or to find. Like, to create or search for things that are fun. Something like that . . . Like, you get to do new things. My favorite was hypnosis. We basically lied down on the floor and just relaxed. You sort of imagine like you're flying, or whatever you want. What's it like being a first-year student? Well, on the first day I was really nervous, but I made friends even in the first hour, during the first activities, because everyone was really nice. On the second day, we got to know each other more deeply. By the third day we were all already best buddies. So what's your group like? My advisor is really kind. He always cares about other people. When people are doing something wrong, he doesn't yell or get mad, but people listen to him. How do classes here compare to classes at school? It's more fun here. You get to express your opinions. Also you get to choose your classes, so it's more comfortable. It's really fun. Is there any one thing that you're most looking forward to? Well, I'm really looking forward to being a music video director in class. We take turns as director. The music video class really helps me figure out what I like to do with that. If you had a friend who was thinking about coming to Explo, what would you tell them? I'd tell them that it's a really good place, where you can be a kid. You can express your opinions and do anything you want. You can prepare for your future. If Explo was a dessert, what kind of dessert would it be and why? That's a really hard question . . . It would be delicious. It's hard to think of just one that would work. more conversations > first session \| second session