EXPLO Junior Interview with Griffin from Vermont

Griffin is one of our most articulate, well spoken, and warm students. He is trying new things, meeting new people, and really believes Explo has fundamentally changed the person he is. When Griffin describes EXPLO, he is describing everything we strive for here at EXPLO Junior.

Is this your first year at EXPLO Junior?
Yes, it is.

Well, welcome then! How did you find EXPLO?
Well, my sister was the first one in the family to come to EXPLO. She’s at EXPLO Senior. She has a great first year, so my parents decided that me and my brother would come this year.

So it’s a family affair! What had your sister told you that made you want to come?
She told me that it’s academic but it’s really fun at the same time. She said the classes were really cool and she got to try things she had never done before. She was worried, I think, but she said the teachers were really good. She always came home knowing really cool new things.

She also said that you’re here with so many people from around the world. This is her second year with an international roommate, which is so cool.

Has EXPLO lived up to those expectations?
Definitely... Definitely. For one, there are six international students in my hall alone and people from all over the country, too. Two, everyone is so nice and friendly! The trips are great, the courses are awesome, the electives are cool, and the activities. Everything is just great.

It sounds like you are really excited about all the international students! What is it that you like about that?
You get to learn their languages, their cultures. You get to see how different they are and how similar they are. I’ve learned a few Chinese words just by being here and I can say a whole Chinese sentence now!.

What sentence can you say?
The pig — or chicken — ran away because there was a problem.

That’s so impressive that you learned that in a week and a half! I’m curious what you learned in your courses, too. Which ones are you taking?
I’m taking The Situation Room and CSI: EXPLO.

Very cool! What is The Situation Room about?
It’s mainly about international conflict resolution. We all learn how to compromise and bargain and how to make deals. It’s like tactical negotiations.

Is that something you’ve been interested in for a while?
Yeah! It’s exactly what I thought it would be, and that’s awesome.

Have you learned anything new or anything you can use in your everyday life?
I’ve learned how to work through disagreements with my friends. You always have to compromise in some way. For example, if you give all the cookies to one person, then someone else might be mad. It’s a balance.

And CSI: EXPLO?
I chose CSI: EXPLO because I knew it was about forensics and criminal intelligence. I’ve always been really interested in that kind of stuff — fingerprints, DNA analyzing.

Have you done any of that yet?
Oh, yeah. We learned how to lift a fingerprint off a surface, how to approach a crime scene, and how to interview, or interrogate, someone.

If you were going to tell me the top three things I needed to know when approaching a crime scene, what would they be?
One, set up a perimeter and keep the public back but in a comfortable way. You don’t want to alarm them or push them away. Two, you have to be cautious about where you’re stepping and walking. Three, you can’t contaminate the crime scene, so you have to make sure you’re keeping it pristine.

I’ll keep those in mind if I’m ever near an investigation! How have your electives been?
Well, one of them is Geocaching, which is a lot of fun. The other one... I’m not supposed to tell you about it because it’s Secret Agent... but it’s a lot of fun, too.

Top secret, I get it. Let's talk about Geocaching. How does one geocache?
Well, geocaching is where you take a GPS and you have locations where things are hidden. It’s kind of like a giant scavenger hunt. The GPS will tell you which way you need to go and how far you need to walk. It leads you to a general area so there’s still some hunting that goes on. It’s a lot of fun!

I never would have known! So do people do that for fun?
Yeah! There’s actually a worldwide geocaching organization. You just get a GPS and you find spots. There are some buried everywhere. In the caches, there are prizes. One of my floormates dug one up in his backyard and found a packaged beachball!

Do you think you might go on a few treasure hunts when you get home?
Oh, yeah! Definitely! I’ve heard that there are even some at my school at home!

That’s so cool! You should definitely scope it out. Sounds like you are really trying a lot of new things here at EXPLO.
Yeah, definitely. The environment here lets you do a lot of new things. Everyone is from all around the world, everybody is open to new things. EXPLO is new for everyone, even if you’re a returner. You should try new things because EXPLO is about trying things you haven’t done before and being yourself while doing it. I actually remember David Torcoletti, the [former] Head of Program, at the open house I went to, saying that if you’re doing something you’ve already done, then it’ll be no fun. He told us to go out and try something new and do something you’ve never done before.

Time for some silly questions. If everyone at EXPLO, staff and students, where a type of animal, what kind of animal would they be?
I would say an owl. Some of us are wise owls and some of us are still learning to fly.

That’s a very thoughtful answer! If EXPLO was a kind of food, what food would EXPLO be?
I’ve gotten this question about myself before and I say nut brittle. I think I have the same answer for EXPLO. It’s a little nutty, it sticks — it’s always with you even after you finish — and it’s sweet!

Even though we don’t have any nuts on campus, I still love that answer. If you were going to describe EXPLO in five words, which five would you pick?
That’s hard... EXPLO is really, really, really, really amazing. Or really, really, really, really new. Or really, really, really, really different. All of those.

That’s really great. Really, really, really, really great! I’m wondering if you feel like you’ve changed at EXPLO?
Yeah, yeah definitely. Just by meeting new people you change. Just by seeing new cultures you change. Staying with these people for just two weeks had definitely changed me, y'know? Now my RAs (Residential Advisors) feel like big brothers, now my floormates feel like cousins. It’s so different, you see something new and different here everyday.

If someone was thinking about coming to EXPLO but wasn’t sure, what would you say to them?
This is to those people: If you want to find the best summer program, if you want to find the most diverse, the most different, the most interesting, the place you’ll learn the most, meet the best people, the place you’ll change the most — then come to EXPLO. By the time you leave, you’ll wish you were here for four weeks, five weeks, six weeks. It’s a place that you never really want to leave.

That’s really beautiful. Any final thoughts?
Hi Mom, hi Dad! And I hope I read this interview one day so I can think back and remember all my time at EXPLO.