I was excited to recently learn that my summer colleague Christopher Streat has just started a prestigious internship working on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. If you had been at EXPLO at Yale last summer, you would have seen how talented Christopher is on stage, leading community meetings in the Schubert Theatre, and act as a role model for students in improv and acting classes.

What might surprise you is that Christopher was not always a confident and outgoing entertainer. In fact, he credits his experience as an EXPLO student as the starting point for launching his career path.

“Before I came to EXPLO, I was a student who was far too eager to fit in. I was a nervous, quiet, very shy, always-on-the-sideline student. Then I went to EXPLO... and everything changed.” 

Three Weeks of EXPLO, A Lifetime of Courage

In his two summers as an EXPLO student, Christopher was encouraged to challenge himself and discover his true passions. Not only did he try his hand at theater — signing up for improvisational acting, movie production, and stage combat — but he also explored social psychology, philosophy of physics and robotics engineering. A weekend trip to see Newsies on Broadway didn’t hurt in the inspiration department, either. 

 

“Before I came to EXPLO, I was a student who was far too eager to fit in. I was a nervous, quiet, very shy, always-on-the-sideline student. Then I went to EXPLO... and everything changed.” 

Reflecting on the confidence he gained from his EXPLO experience, Christopher explains: “I was able to go back home and take theater classes, join Model UN clubs, work on public speaking because I was no longer self conscious about what this true version of myself looked like to other people."

In short, Christopher’s experience at EXPLO gave him the courage to be bold — to take action on his interests, and to become the best version of himself.

Jumpstart Your Future Self!

If you are interested in blazing your own path this summer, I hope you will consider joining us at EXPLO at Yale this summer. (As an extra bonus, Christopher is coming back as our Community Meeting Coordinator, so you can see him in action!)

If the path that Christopher took to landing an internship at The Daily Show with Trevor Noah is something that interests you, I encourage you to check out our course selection at EXPLO at Yale. Some courses that might interest you are: 

• Business Management
• Advertising + Marketing
• Reality TV: A Closer Look
• Sociology of Pop Culture
• Acting
• Sketch Comedy
• Stage Make-Up

We have some really awesome class offerings related to the industry of entertainment — not just from a seat in the audience, but from all sides of the show — production, marketing, management, sales, and strategy.