junior program summer site : conversations : second session



	Josh from Connecticut (7/24) A 7th grade res student, Josh is taking "Light and Image," a photography course, and "Cafe Italiano," a course in Italian language and culture. He thinks the teachers are great because they're young and relatable -- they can talk with the students about the class or the most recent hit song. So what did you do yesterday? I did a tennis workshop and a “Team Challenge” workshop and I thought both of them were great. In tennis we learned how to swing the racket properly, the parts of the court, the parts of the racket. We played some fun tennis games like “Around the World.” I really enjoyed it . . . especially because my RA was teaching it. And what did you do in “Team Challenge”? The challenge was getting some marbles from the top of the stairs all the way to the bottom without dropping them, which was tough, because we had to move them but only had a few pipes to put them in. It was fun and difficult and I think it ended up great. What was your final strategy? We ended up doing it by putting several marbles in one tube, and then passing the tube down from person to person, all the way down the stairs, with our hands on the bottom so that the marbles couldn't fall out. It worked really well. We only dropped about three marbles. We found it really helps to think of all the possibilities and then to take a bunch of ideas, mix them together, and come up with the best thing from the group. You mentioned your tennis teacher was also your RA. What's your res group like? My RA is Grant. My res group is on West Campus. Everyone in my group, whether it's their first year or their fourth year, or however many years they've been here, has been so friendly and nice. Nobody's feelings have gotten hurt. Everyone is just having a great time. A lot of the other boys on my hall are jokesters and people who are just friendly. It's great. What's it like being a first-year res student? It's easy. I think that other than learning the basic run of everything here, it's not hard at all. I had a little trouble at first learning where everything was, but you get the hang of it. What classes are you taking? I'm taking photography and Italian language and culture. In my photography class, we usually take pictures and mix chemicals and make a bunch of different kinds of photos and learn about them. For example, how bright and dark they are, blurriness, where people should be located in the picture. One of the rules is to use soft light, if possible, because it makes things easier. Also that the subject should be on a third of the photo and not in the center. And what have you been up to in Italian language and culture? My teacher Maria -- she's great. Every day we have at least one game or something like that. We're learning Italian words and how they're pronounced and all sorts of Italian things. I'm just having a blast. The first day was a geography game. Everybody had to find a city that she listed and the first person to find it got a point for their team. I found Venice and I think that was it . . . our team didn't do so well. What are the teachers like? The teachers are great. I think it's awesome that they're young. You can actually relate to them more than you would with a “regular” teacher. I think it helps because you can be more social with them. If you're talking about a new song that came out or something, they're more likely to know about it than an old teacher. What does the word “Explo” mean to you? “Explo” means to me that people have a blast and it's always getting better and better. If you had a friend who was thinking about coming to Explo, what would you tell them? I would tell them that they should definitely come to Explo because even if it's their first time at a sleep-away program, everyone is great and everyone has fun. Nobody has been mean or anything. It's a really great place. If Explo was a dessert, what kind of dessert would it be and why? I think it would have to be ice cream because there are so many things that go into ice cream. For example, flavors, toppings, the sizes. I think Explo is full of different personalities, and the flavors and the toppings all match those personalities. more conversations > first session \| second session