How is EXPLO different from school? Interview with Charlotte, EXPLO Alum

"I would say the classes here at EXPLO are definitely different from classes I've taken at school. I think that in school, a lot of the time, it's just the teachers telling you what to do. You have to do all these specific things. But here at EXPLO, you get more of a choice to do what you want to do. Because, one of the things that EXPLO does is give you a chance to grow, a chance to branch out, and it's a learning experience too.

You have to be the one thinking. You're not being told, “This is the plot, this is the setting, these are the characters.” You have to make that up for yourself, and I think that that's really helpful, because when you're told what to do and exactly how to do it, you're not taking much from it. And I think that when you're told, “Here's an idea of what to do, now go on with it and put your own spin on it,” that's really helpful and helps you learn.

One of the things that I've noticed is the teachers really try to make the classes more fun for the kids and more interactive. I'm taking the Introduction to Clinical Skills + First Aid workshop with Jordan, and I think she's made the class really fun by doing a lot of interactive activities. It has definitely made the whole experience more enjoyable.

One of the things we did in Jordan's class was an activity where each of us were different parts of the heart, like different arteries and valves, and we passed a ball around and said what we were so that we would know how the blood flow worked in the heart. And I learned from that as well as having fun from it. And I think the memories of it being fun made me remember what it actually was. I didn’t realize I actually was learning!

I would say that at EXPLO, when we do learn something, once we learn it, we can put it to use. Like, we learned about bedside manner.? And later on, when we were acting as doctors, we had to use good bedside manner with the patient, so that we can learn how to act in a real life situation."