junior program summer site : conversations : second session



	Julia from Massachusetts (7/21) Julia was a bit nervous about meeting people at first but found new friends, she says, within the first hour of her first day. A Pioneer entering the fifth grade, she's taking "Yay for Clay" and "Explo's Most Extreme," and couldn't be more excited about it! So what have you done in your first day of Explo? Well, I had my “Yay for Clay” class, which was way fun. We got really dirty, though. Then I had “Explo's Most Extreme,” which is a science class. That was really really fun, too. We're going to start learning about animals and plants and we're going to start using the microscopes. There's loads to do here. We took our swimming tests and we made our group flag. What's your flag like? Well, my group's theme is “awkward animals,” so on our flag we drew a bunch of awkward animals. Our group motto is “Go awkward or go home.” So, like, what we did was everyone made an animal. There was a turtle at the bottom, which my friend Laura drew really really well. Then my friend Courtney -- well, they're all my friends -- but Courtney drew a monkey eating a banana but squishing it all over himself. I drew a pink and purple dog. At the top we drew an “Explo-dile” which is a mixture of all the different animals that we drew before, so it was like a big fish body, with a monkey's tail, a dog's face, and it was really funny. Tell me a bit about your day advisor. Her name is Shev and she's really funny. She's really laid back and a lot of fun to be around. She likes to get up and get active. She's also teaching the “Real Monopoly” class. What are your classes like? In “Yay for Clay” we're making pinch pots, which is where you take the clay and turn it into a ball, then you stick your thumb in and kind of turn it around to make it into a little bowl. It's really, really fun. What about “Explo's Most Extreme”? Today, we were mostly getting to know each other. We made a contract, and we did these true-or-false things. Really, it was just a great environment with everybody in the room, and it was really fun to be able to be in the lab at St. Mark's School. We're going to start learning about extreme plants and extreme animals. What makes them "extreme"? Like, venus fly traps, they eat bugs instead of using photosynthesis to make their food. And then there are extreme animals everywhere, even fake animals, like the “Explo-dile.” It's really fun. We're going to make a giant squid that'll be almost the size of the stage, and we're going to make volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar. It's going to be so cool. Has it been easy to make friends so far? Oh yeah! I was really nervous that I wasn't going to make any friends, but in the first hour I made six friends. It's just really really fun to be around all these other kids and you can really be yourself here. Is there anything you're really looking forward to here at Explo? I'm excited for the main events, I'm excited to meet more of the staff because everybody that I've met so far has been absolutely wonderful. I'm really excited to play some sports here with other kids and meet brand new friends. If Explo was a type of dessert, what would it be and why? Hmmm . . . It would probably be a very colorful, HUGE, very high stack of different desserts. Like maybe some little cakes, and then some jello, and then some cookies. It would be wonderful. If it really was a dessert, I'd order it every time, because I've had a great experience here, and I think I'd have a great experience eating that. It would be different from every other dessert, just like Explo is different from other camps. I've never been to a place like Explo. It's awesome. more conversations > first session \| second session