junior program summer site : conversations : first session



	Esther from South Korea (7/22) Going into the 7th grade, Esther is back for her 3rd year at the Junior Program! In her hip-hop dance class, "Bend, Flex, Move", she's busy learning the moves to choreograph a dance that the class will perform at Off Broadway Night. After "Bend, Flex, Move", she's off to "Which Way to Broadway", where she's working on her stagecraft and acting! What classes are you taking this summer? Right now I'm taking “Bend, Flex, Move” which is a hip-hop dance class, and I'm taking “Which Way to Broadway” which is musical theater. In hip-hop we're going to be choreographing our own dance for a show on Off Broadway Night at the end of the session. For now, though, we're just learning new dance moves. Like today we learned how to do a C jump. You take three steps forward and then turn and jump, making your arms and legs into a C. I took a hip-hop class last year and it was so much fun, which is why I wanted to take it again. In "Which Way to Broadway" we were talking about how to breathe properly when you're acting. A lot of people don't know it, but you want to be breathing from the stomach when you're acting, and a lot of people breathe from the chest. Have you done a lot of acting before? No. This is my first time ever acting. It's kind of scary, but also kind of exciting, because we have to perform on the stage. I don't know which part I'm going to get for our play yet, but I'm really excited. What makes the classes at Explo different from the classes you take at school? In class at school it always seems like you're just doing paperwork or listening to teachers talk. At Explo, though, you experience things in a hands-on way. You move around and do things instead of just sitting in chairs. It's so much fun, and you learn a lot more that way. I've also gotten to do things at Explo that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Like hip-hop dance, for example. I felt really shy about having to dance in front of people on a stage before I took a class here last year. But now it's no big deal, because I know how to dance and I know how to perform. What are the staff like here? There's such a variety of personalities in the staff. They're awesome, and they're always really nice to everyone! It's great because the staff always helps everyone to work together and to be inclusive. Even if it's just something like playing games to be together, or just starting a discussion to get people talking. They're great! What's your hall like? I live on West Campus now because I'm going into the 7th grade, and it's awesome. My hall mates are great and we get along really well. We play a lot of games on the hall, or sometimes we'll just hang out and talk. Sometimes during hall time we'll just crowd into one room and put music on and dance around. We'll just talk about what activities we did during the day and hang out, which is really nice because you get to know people better. My RAs are so funny, too! Allie and Jacque are really cool and a lot of fun. Is it easy to meet new people at Explo? Yeah, because you have so many activities to do things with new people. You'll meet unexpected people, too. Like, you can meet people from another country or a completely different culture. Then, after the summer is over, I always get everyone's email addresses so that we can keep in touch during the year. It's so easy to make friends here! There's even an activity called Speed Friending where you meet tons of people really, really fast. If Explo was a type of dessert, what would it be and why? Hmmm. . . Chocolate chip cookies! Explo would be cookies because they're round, and that's kind of like how we're all together as one group here. And chocolate chips just make it better! more conversations > first session \| second session