senior program summer site : conversations : first session



	ben from new york (7/24) Ben is in his fourth year at Explo, his second at the Senior Program. He loves everyone he meets here, but since he might get a job next summer, he's doing everything he can to ensure his last year here is his best! This is your fourth year, Ben. What keeps you coming back to Explo? Well, I love the kids and love the Program; it's always fun. You get the independence you can't get at home and you're still in a structured place where you can have a good time with a bunch of friends. What can you tell me about the independence? Getting to go into town . . . I know shopping's not that exciting [laughs], but still, doing it alone without the parents hanging over the shoulder is always a nice change. And being able to hang out, sit down and talk, which you don't get much time to do at home with school and everything. And it's your second year at the Senior Program? Are there big differences between this and the Intermediate Program? This is definitely more independent . . . This is more of a "you're going to have fun only if you want to have fun" type of situation. At Intermediate, you have to do things, whereas here you choose what you do . . . you create fun for yourself, which, fortunately, I'm pretty good at. How's that? Like a couple of nights ago out on the quad, me and a couple of friends went around yelling at everybody to all get together. We absorbed groups and we got a "mosh pit" of maybe 400 people together in the middle of the quad talking and meeting new people. Half of Explo knows my name and I have no clue who they are [laughs]. That was awesome, getting to know people. Is there any advice you'd give someone coming here for the first time? Oh yeah. You gotta put yourself out there. I went out, just introduced myself to everybody . . . and forgot half their names . . . but a couple of them you meet again and you remember their names . . . then you just keep hanging out and it's awesome. You gotta introduce yourself to as many people as possible. Have you been encouraged to try other new things at Explo? Definitely. Over the years, Explo's made me a much friendlier person. You have to make a lot of your own friends. You have your living group, which is kind of set for you, but then you have to go out there and create your own experience. So I've become definitely more friendly and outgoing through Explo. How is your living group? Well, my roommate's awesome; we hang out all the time. Where's he from? He's from New Jersey. But everyone's from everywhere: a couple are from Venezuela . . . Actually, this year for the first time we have a lot [of people in my living group who are] from around me. But still, getting to know people from everywhere is cool. Do you find there are a lot of cultural differences? You know, we seem to work together pretty well. There are definitely cultural differences. Some are more conservative than others, and even differences that we have within our own culture about what time to get up and so on, but really, everything seems to work out fine. How do you make it work? You just talk it out. We all work together -- we don't even need to try to get past it, it just happens on its own. We just talk, we're friends, just like two American kids would be. Same thing with international and American kids, it just works out. What about your first course? My first period is sports medicine. It's really fun. I'm an athlete, so it's really interesting. I'm learning a lot about what's going on with injuries. I've had weird injuries in my day, so being able to know what's happening and hopefully being able to diagnose and treat some of my own things, that's what I really wanted to do going into it. What else do you think you'll be doing in that class? We're going to do a couple of labs on certain ways to treat injuries . . . and yesterday we learned about specific muscle fibers and how they operate. How about your second course? My second course is personality and behavioral psychology. So far, we've more studied what personality and behavior are, the differences and similarities between them, and later, we're going to analyze what's going on with each one and compare it to the people on the outside, about their behavior and personality. Actually, we had the coolest activity yesterday: we got to go on a field trip around campus just taking pictures of random people, and then later we're going to analyze their personality and behavior based just on still pictures. That can be done? We're going to learn to do that, yeah. Is this stuff getting you to think about your future? Well, I'm taking the PSAT course which is definitely helping set me up for college, but I like to take it one day at a time, unlike my father [laughs]. I just want to relax as it is. So are you going on any college trips? I got lucky because my brother's already in college, so I went around with him to a bunch of colleges and I've seen most of the colleges around here and the New England area, so I'm not going on any college trips this year. What does Exploration mean to you? It's mostly a way of making friends. Learning is always fun [here], and over the years it's dominated my summer. On one level, it's kind of a break from the hectic football and school life. On another level, it's also putting me out there learning . . . It's my summer. I love it. What are you most looking forward to? This year I've done it a little differently than last year. I realize this is probably going to be my last year because I'm going to go work next year, try to get a job. I'm not sure if you can tell, but I've already lost my voice going out there screaming at people to get together. I'm just definitely hoping to meet new people. Today me and a friend went in the rain and escorted people back and forth from the dining hall, just to meet new people. With an umbrella? Yeah, we got a couple of sketchy looks, but it's alright, it was fun. Just go out there, have fun, meet new people, learn . . . What will you miss most about Explo? Definitely the people from everywhere. The international aspect to it. For two years, I had friends from Italy -- almost went to go visit them -- and I'm definitely going to miss that part of it, but also just the friends. If you had to describe Explo as an object, what would it be? A globe in a classroom with the door open -- things from everywhere going on, plus the learning and how everything's open here. I know the Peace Fair happened last year; that was really interesting and opened me to new ideas. If you were a kitchen appliance, what would you be? Well, I do love to cook! I'd be a blender. Actually, no, I like to blend in with people but I still like to stick out. I'd be a coffee maker. I'm highly energetic. I'm definitely a highly energetic person with the coffee aspect of it. more conversations > first session \| second session