senior program summer site : conversations : first session



	annie from minnesota (7/25) Annie is from Minnesota and she's heading into the tenth grade. It's her first year at Explo, and she's getting along swimmingly with her living group. She's really enjoying her classes and being at Yale. What is your first course? Music theory. It seems to be going well. We have a lot of vocab words that I didn't know about, which is pretty weird because I've been in band for five years . . . but I'm really excited to learn a lot more about it. I have some relatives that know, like, nothing about music and then I have some that know so much it's scary, so I want to, like, teach. You come from a musical background? My grandmother was a choir director and an amazingly good singer, and everyone in the family seems to play an instrument, or a couple. I play the alto sax. I was first chair! What do you expect from the class? We're learning how songs are set up. The structure we got a lot into today, and I hope I'll be able to improve my sight reading. Like, when I'm handed new music in band, I'll be able to be, like, "Oh, I know exactly what that means," instead of having to listen to everyone else first. But I swear, I'm a totally deserving first chair! [laughs] What about your second course? It's advertising and marketing, which is also fun. Every day we look at a rejected advertisement that was supposed to be on TV but was later taken off, and we have this huge discussion about why we think it was taken off. They're pretty controversial. There was this one Burger King ad and it was, like, really sexist. It was "Eat like a man" and they had all these huge Whoppers and you're supposed to eat like a man, whatever that means. And all the women were either sitting down, serving the men, or cheerleading for the men. It was banned because it was really offensive to women and there were so many complaints. What else are you doing in the class? Our final project, we're making our own advertisement, and it's going to air at Explopalooza. We're still learning about tiny details . . . important things like sounds. And today we learned about voice, like how you need to be strong with your voice in advertising and even in speeches. We listened to Martin Luther King, Jr. today, and our teacher Pete showed us how to do it the right way and how to do it the wrong way. The first time he was running on with his sentences, but the second time he was really empowering and inspiring. He used better timing, better pauses between each phrase. We also talked about King's speech and the crowd reaction and if we thought he was feeding off the crowd or if he was just in his own world. It was cool. What mini-course are you in? Newspaper column writing. I'm writing an article -- I get to interview kids at Explo. I'll ask them about their thoughts on Explo -- like, what they'd change. Well, what do you like about Explo? My living group is very cool. I was placed with people who are totally compatible with me and we became friends very quickly. It's only been half a week, right, but it feels like it's been, like, forever. And we have lunch together every day. We don't have any classes together, but that's okay. They're all very nice and really funny and I really appreciate that. Have you found it difficult to meet people outside of your living group? Nope. The people in my classes are very cool, I've made a couple of friends in my advertising and marketing class. Is this your first time being on your own? Two years ago I spent three weeks in Italy, France, and Malta, and that was interesting because there was like no communication between my parents and me, and that was really scary. But I'm doing okay now because I call them every other day. The east coast is really a comfortable place for me, but the first day I felt a little lost. I came way early, so I wasn't sure what to do with myself, but then we got with our living group and it was all good. How does it feel to be on a college campus? It's awesome. I don't know where I want to go to college yet, because I don't know what I want to be when I grow up . . . which can be a huge deal when picking out a college. I'm not sure if I'll be able to go to Yale, but if I were to go to here, I would be excited about that. Are you going on any college trips? I went to Trinity and Wesleyan yesterday. They were very cool. I could actually picture myself at Wesleyan. Do you think that Explo is preparing you for that experience? Well, I'm not taking the PSAT review, but I definitely feel comfortable now when it comes to dorm life. I've definitely learned some things quickly when it comes to living in a dorm. My shower at home is bigger than my shower here, but I'm learning to live with that. And I like having a roommate, because I don't share my room with a sibling at home. If you had to describe Explo as an object, what would it be? Well, I've seen people describe it as a globe, or the one person who said it would be a globe in a classroom with an open door. I would definitely see Explo as an open door. It's a whole new opportunity for you not only to make friends -- though that's definitely a huge deal (and since I've been out of the country I understand the international thing) -- but . . . well, my trip here was . . . I was excited to learn more about myself. In my first class they were all like, "So, describe yourself." And I was like, "I have no idea." I know what I do, but I don't know who I am. So now that I've put myself in a new situation, I know how I act with people, so that's pretty cool: finding and creating yourself. If you go through the open door you have a whole new situation for yourself. If you were an animal, what would you be? If I were an animal . . . I have no idea. This is the open door! If I were an animal, I'd probably be something that is both shy and not shy. Because when I first came here I was like, "Oh my goodness, I have no idea what's going on. I just want to go back to my room and figure things out later. . ." I could totally be a turtle. Because I can go inside my shell when I want to or I can go outside and experience new possibilities. more conversations > first session \| second session