senior program summer site : conversations : second session



	sarah from massachusetts (8/8) Sarah is at the Senior Program for the first year, but it's her sixth at Explo! She's from Massachusetts, going into the 10th grade, and is a residential student this summer. She loves her hip-hop class and she thinks that Explo gets better every year. So what's new about the Senior Program for you? It's different because you get a lot more freedom, where you can go and stuff. Other than that, I don't know . . . it's similar, and I like it a lot. I really like the whole living at college experience. None of my friends at home are going to be able to have that and I'll be way more prepared. Also I think it's fun with all the people and everything and it makes me feel more mature, living here and going out to eat and everything. What are some other aspects of life here at the college campus that are new for you? Like living in the dorms, or even just walking around the campus. I usually have no sense of direction . . . but being here taught me how to find my way around. Do you enjoy being away from home, on your own? Yeah, I don't know why . . . I like my home and everything, but I love to stay at my friend's house or go to sleep-away camps and stuff, and I'm really excited for college. Maybe because I'm the middle child [laughs]. Have you been on any college trips here? I haven't, but I want to. I kept thinking it's too early to think about college, but I don't know. I'm starting to think about it, and next year, if I come back, I'm definitely going to go on some college trips. So what courses are you taking? I take hip-hop dance and journalism. I've taken hip-hop, like, every year . . . basically because it's really fun. I especially like it this year, because the instructor is really cool. His name's Kit. Sometimes I call him Kit-Kat. It's really fun. He's a really good dancer. He has more expectations for us, so it's fun and more challenging. What are you guys doing in that course? We do, like, breakdancing . . . which is really hard. And Kit put together a whole mix of songs to do at Explopalooza. I'm excited, but kind of nervous, I guess. Do you feel prepared though? Yeah, and it was fun anyway, so if I mess up . . . [laughs]. And how about journalism? It's good, it's more like I learned a lot about actually writing, which will help me later in life. And my teacher is really nice, her name's Lydia. She's really good, helpful and everything. And we have to actually write articles. We're having a sort of newspaper at the end. I wrote an article on staff vs. student sports, so I interviewed some people too, like what they thought of the sports and games. Any good insights? The students tended to be like, "Oh, they weren't as good," while the staff was like, "Yeah, they were great!" because I think the staff won a lot [laughs]. I wrote about that stuff but someone's doing politics, someone's reviewing places to eat and stuff. What trips have you been on? I went to the beach. It was really nice and really big. I went white water rafting, too. It was really fun. I'm surprised I didn't fall off. Then I went on the NBC tour. I didn't know what it was when I signed up, but it was actually really cool. It was in New York City and basically it was where Saturday Night Live and a whole bunch of TV shows were filmed and stuff. We got to look around and shop and everything. And I went to the zoo. I like animals, but it was so hot that day! Has the Senior Program met your expectations? Yeah, it has. I think Explo keeps getting better every year from the Junior Program. I don't remember it ever being bad, but now that I look back on it, I think how much better this is. I don't know why. I think I've changed a lot since the Junior Program. I was way different. I feel like I know everyone . . . I'm way friendlier, and it goes that way every year. I'm more open to things. A big reason why I came here in the first place is that no one from my town goes here, so it's like all new people and I like that a lot. I have a friend here who's been going for seven years, so she beats me, and now we're really good friends and we're roommates this year. We met a whole bunch of people in our living group, and all the foreign kids are so interesting, I really like to talk to them. What advice would you give someone for the first time? Well, I told my little sister that she will have fun and that it'll be over before she knows it because she'll be having so much fun. And there's so much to do here, so you don't have to worry about anything. There's always something taking up your time, so there's no time to even worry. What do you miss most about Explo when you leave each year? I want to say the people because they're really cool. Just everything here. I love the campus, and I'll miss my friends a lot . . . even my RAs, they're really cool. If you had to describe Explo as an object, what would it be? It would probably be like a balloon. Because when you blow up a balloon you blow it up slowly and in the end you don't even realize it's already blown up. Like Explo, it gets bigger and bigger, like all the memories and everything expanding, and then all of a sudden it ends. If you were an animal, what would you be? I'd probably be something small like a mouse, but I wouldn't be stupid about it. I wouldn't go into people's rooms and get killed. I like the idea of being small and getting into whatever I want. more conversations > first session \| second session