junior program summer site : conversations : first session



	Ben from Massachusetts (7/29) Ben is entering the seventh grade and it's his sixth session as a day student at the Junior Program. Here at Explo, Ben enjoys learning how to be a Viking while trying not to think about penguins. In the classroom you can find him engineering with Legos or editing computer programs. Among other things, Ben finds Explo to be "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." What is the best part about Explo? One of them is just the staff; they’re so nice. Their minds work like ours do, and so they just sort of get what you’re talking about. It’s very comforting having someone be in charge of you who thinks similarly to you. And the other really great thing is being able to have friends from all over the world and friends you can visit because they live 10 minutes away. What are your classes this session? My two classes are Lego Engineering and Computer Editing. Lego is with Matt Richey and Computer is with Demetrius, who are both awesome teachers. Why did you choose these classes? Well, you have to choose 6 classes so that they can place you strategically and so that everyone gets their best option without being too upset about it. I put both of these classes down as my first choice because Lego Engineering is just really fun. And I signed up for Computer Editing because I wanted to get back into it after having taken it once before. What more can you tell me about Lego Engineering? We’re making thrill rides. In the last couple of days we’ve made merry-go-rounds, bumper cars, and ferris-wheels. And all three of those things use electronic things, like Lego motors and things called MXT’s that you put programs into and then you program them to make your rides do different stuff. Last time I took Goofy Gadgets where you make machines to help the world, so it’s pretty different. What makes Explo classes different from classes at your school? Classes at school are more just sitting down at your desk and writing things down on a piece of paper. At Explo, classes are just doing it. In Computer Editing, Demetrius told us, “Okay, you’re going to figure out how to do this but I’m not going to help you. I’ll give you hints every now and then but you have to figure it out yourself.” Which I really liked because I don’t like people walking me through things; I like figuring them out by myself. I’m making a video game right now, and it took me a while but I figured out how to make everything move and stuff like that, and doing it myself it took less time than it would have if I had done it with someone else’s help. If you were an Explo instructor, what would you lead/teach? One workshop would be Street Luge. One activity would be either “Learn How to Be a Viking,” where you just go around and yell at other activities, or “Try Not to Think About Penguins.” And for classes, I would want to teach Cryptography, which I took last session. And that became the best class that I’d taken in the three years that I’ve been here. Grant was the teacher; he was hilarious and makes everything fun. What's the most important lesson you've learned at Explo in these three years? Try to be the best person you can be. At Explo, I like myself better than when I’m somewhere else, like at school, because at Explo I’m surrounded by happy people, which makes me happy, and which makes everyone else happy. It’s an experience unlike any I’ve ever had. Fantastic. And do you have any advice for future Explo students? Be yourself. Just totally be yourself. Because at Explo we accept you for who you are and not who you want to be. At my school we judge people by what they want to be when they grow up, but it could go either way, like you could be that or halfway through your life you could be something totally different. And that’s why I love Explo, because they never judge you for anything but yourself. And even if they judge you for yourself, it’s never hurtful, it’s more just helpful advice. Like when I first got here I wanted to play wall-ball and I didn’t know how to play. And I was playing and I got out, and I was really upset, and this kid came over and told me that he saw potential in me and now I’m in the semi-finals in the wall-ball tournament three years later and I won it last year, and it’s just a great feeling to know that people are always there for you. What 5 words best describe Explo? Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, interesting, fun, different, and the last word would have to be exciting. Anything else you would like to say? If you can, let your kids come here because it’s the greatest experience I’ve ever had. More Conversations > First Session \| Second Session