junior program summer site : conversations : second session



	Whit from Georgia (8/7) Whit, a seventh grade Voyager, is designing his own island in "Explo Isles." Shaped like either a piranha or Pacman, Whit's island has everything covered from agriculture to sustainable energy. In "Get Out Alive," he's been practicing his wilderness survival skills -- everything from filtering water to finding food and shelter. So what have you been up to today? Today I did lots of very fun things. For my morning activities I did something called "Journey." We went around and did all of these crazy imagination things. It was kind of an adventure where we looked around and used our imagination to go on a quest. After that, I did capture the flag. What was your quest about? We went around and tried to find the Golden Banana, so that we could restore the power and life to the land that the evil hawk Bob stole. Sounds awesome. What classes are you taking? I'm in “Get Out Alive,” which is a wilderness survival class, and “Explo Isles.” Wilderness survival is really fun. We go out and learn all of this cool stuff, like first aid or how to get water from virtually anywhere. . . just all of this fun wilderness survival type stuff. For “Explo Isles,” we get to create our own island nation. We plan it out, discuss it, and decide who lives on the island and what our resources should be. We create everything about the island. What's your island like? Our island is shaped like a piranha, sort of. Kind of a Pacman-piranha. It has an area for solar power, farmlands, and an underwater tunnel connecting the little island and the main island. We didn't go specifically into what crops grow, but we figured out the government. It's going to be really free, and without many strict laws. There's equal opportunity, so everyone who comes to the island is treated the same way. It's called Predetation, because it looks kind of like a piranha, and it just seemed like a cool name. What sort of stuff have you been up to in wilderness survival? The coolest thing we've done is learn how to collect water. We learned that the best way to collect water is to tie a bandana to your shoe and then walk around to collect the dew. Then we filtered the water and put in iodine drops. Our teacher drank it. It was really cool. Today we learned that we can eat sweet clover, and that it tastes really good. It looks like a regular clover, but on the same plant it has little yellow flowers. How would you compare your Explo classes with your classes at school? The classes here are more fun. There are no grades, so everyone is a little more relaxed. The teachers -- they can connect with you a little more. What would you say the word “Explo” means to you? Explo is a place where everyone is just really nice and everyone is kind. Everyone has fun and whoever you meet is really, really cool and you become friends really quickly. The people here have so much to say and you have so much to learn from each other. It's a huge community, really. A big team and community. Can you tell me a bit about your experience as a first year residential student? It wasn't that hard, because I've been on trips before and gone to camps before. It's really nice to come up here and be a res student, because the weather is different and it's a lot cooler. . . it's less humid than in Atlanta, too. Being a res student is absolutely amazing because I've bonded so well with all of the people on my hall. I've just gotten to know them and I'm going to remember them forever. What are the other boys on your hall like? They're extremely funny. They have so much knowledge from different areas and they're so different. They're my friends and they make me feel comfortable all the time. And your RA's? They're probably the coolest people I've ever met. They connect with us, they make jokes with us, they talk to us, and they're more than just mentors -- they're our friends. Sometimes they'll just be singing or doing funny dances. After three weeks, what do you think you'll really take home from Explo? I'll take home the fact that no matter where people come from, and no matter how different they are, they can really come together and become a team, become Explo. Anyone can really bond and make a ton of friends in a short amount of time. If Exlo was a type of dessert, what would it be and why? I'd say it would be a huge ice cream cake, with all of the flavors combined, because of the different range of people. It would taste different to each person because everyone is different and it would be absolutely delicious! more conversations > first session \| second session