As the summer comes to an end, Henry shares his final thoughts from Explo: what his favorite parts were, what he learned, and what he's going to remember and take with him.
I’m a very social person. I love to hang out with friends and making new friends. I never shy away from a new person that I want to introduce myself to. Explo is one of the best opportunities you’ll ever have to meet new people, especially since there’s people from all around the world that come here. Not even just from different places but also from different walks of life — and I’ve never been somewhere that has such a variety of people. It’s easy to bond over common interests but what’s unique about Explo is that you tend to bond over not common interests. You learn a lot about people who are very different from you and you expand your horizons.
But aside from the social aspect, you can expand your horizons academically. The courses are not what you’d expect them to be. It’s not like going to school. I remember my first year here, I was like, “Okay, my parents signed me up for a summer school so this can’t be fun.” But Explo allows for so much creativity. It’s nothing like a normal school. The staff contributes greatly to that. It almost doesn’t even feel like they’re teaching, it’s just a learning experience unlike anything you’d see anywhere else.
We’re unfortunately winding down now. My favorite moments have been events like Cruise Night or the weekend trips where it’s a little less structured and you can hang out with friends. I always come away from Explo with a lot of really cool stories; there are just those certain narratives that you remember.
My best one from this summer is how much I liked Mock Trial and Model United Nations. There was so much room for debate and I really liked debating with people. I love to argue for what I believe in. I wish I was better at playing Devil’s Advocate on any point, but I always just tend to veer towards what I believe in. It’s fun to be able to do that. I think I want to be a politician when I grow up and I want to be able to have a platform that reflects my beliefs so that people can follow me for that. I actually had no idea that I wanted to be a politician before this summer, but Explo allows for opportunities to be a leader. It allows for opportunities to learn from other people. It’s taught me so much, more than I could have ever imagined.
Ally Marcino