By Nellie Shih ‘19, News Editor
After the success of last year, Exploration Day is back and better than ever: Friday, April 14th, 2017 was a half day. Students were set free around noon after a day of concrete art, reading, golfing, fossil hunting with Dr. Franzosa, and more.
Students were sent home at 12:00 after eating cupcakes in the dining terrace, decorated by participants of the cupcake project, including Sachi Bhati ’18. “We frosted 350 cupcakes,” said Bhati. “I really enjoyed it because I was with my friends, and Grace Pettengill ’17 and Mrs. Christiansen were able to teach us all new techniques to ice the cupcakes. There were enough brightly colored cupcakes for all of the Upper School students, much to the envy of younger students. “I decided that I wanted to teach people how to create different designs with icing because it’s a fun and an easily taught skill,” explained Pettengill. “Mrs. Christiansen and I taught people how to make stars, dots, and leaves. Most people, after learning those, went on to create their own designs. Overall, it was a very fun day.”
Ms. Lichty-Smith, Ms. Bodollo, and Mr. McGivern took a group of students downtown to 21C, a museum hotel, and the Contemporary Arts Center; both are located adjacent to the Aronoff. “I would have to say my favorite part was the exhibit about feminism in the basement of the Contemporary Arts Center,” said Jack Sullivan ’19. The Contemporary Arts Center has been popular with many students, with its neon lights and unusual exhibits.
Hailey Spaeth ’17, left campus as well to visit the Vikings exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center. “I think Exploration Day is a really good use of a half day and gives students an opportunity to bond with each other as well as teachers while simultaneously giving us a chance to learn about the interests and talents of our peers,” said Spaeth. “I think there should be even more senior led events in the future,” she added.
History teacher Dr. McCall introduced a couple of students to Twine. “We explored making our own choose-your-own-adventure type games in Twine, the interactive text tool,” said DMac. “I love that using computer tools like Twine allows us to create these little interactive worlds, which is an amazing feeling to be able to do.” Radha Mangu, ’19 described her day using Twine as “relaxing. [She] based [her] Twine around memes. Overall it was fun, and the group was really nice.” “Everyone in my group got to design whatever they wanted, and games-in-progress ranged from horror and fantasy, to Harry Potter fanfic, memes, and everyday life. So I hope they felt the excitement of creation and the pleasure that comes with problem solving,” explained DMac on what he hoped students learned from Twine. “DMac is pretty cool,” added Mangu.
Other students learned about camping with seniors Nick Krammer and Hunter Folan, made comics with Nikki Rosiello ’17, and even watched a movie with Merle.
