Do You Have to be Gifted to go to Explo?

By Moira Kelly,
Executive Director + President, Exploration Summer Programs

When my colleagues and I run into people who do not know very much about Explo, we are often greeted with the following, “Exploration … that’s a program for gifted kids, right?” Well, the answer is “yes” and “no”. It’s true: there are a lot of Exploration students with high IQs or other test scores that put them in the realm of “gifted students.” Generally speaking, students who are not intellectually curious are seldom attracted to the Program. High test scores are not a prerequisite to attending Exploration, nor are exceptional grades in school, or a demonstrated special talent. At Exploration, we are looking for bright, curious, and interesting people. They are young people eager to try new things, meet new people, and actively participate in the Exploration community-- both inside and outside the classroom. This kind of student comes in all shapes, sizes and interests. Some are always part of the high honor roll and are socially confident. Others are highly intelligent, but their social skills may not be as refined as their intellectual abilities. Some do not do well in school because they are bored. Others find sitting still in class hour after hour tortuous and it affects their grades even though they are unusually bright. At Exploration, almost all of these students will find their niche.

At Explo we know that kids can be gifted in lots of areas that are not generally tested. Often, students have not unearthed their strongest natural abilities, particularly if their talents lie in areas that are not part of the traditional school curriculum. Finding one’s medium, one’s element – the area of one’s greatest natural capacity – is almost always life changing. At Exploration, we believe that every student at the program has significant potential in some area or another. We want to help students learn more about what can light them up both intellectually and emotionally. To that end, we push our students to step outside of their comfort zones, to experiment, and to try something new every day.

Students often comment on the unusual atmosphere at Exploration. It’s hard not to notice the tremendous diversity of the student body. There is a constant flow of ideas rising from students who come from across the United States and 50 countries. Academic pressure is minimized because there are no grades, no tests, and no scores. It’s a rich, fervent, imaginative environment. Dr. Ken Robinson writes about creative environments in a way that rings true to the Explo community. In Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative, he writes, “Creative environments give people time to experiment, to fail, to try again, to ask questions, to play, to make connections among the seemingly disparate elements… All original ideas and products spring from an initial period of experimentation or fooling around. This may sometimes seem purposeless but it is the essence of the creative process.”

Thousands of former Exploration students have graduated from highly prestigious colleges and universities. Many have gone on to win Fullbright Fellowships, Rhodes Scholarships, Mellon Fellowships, and National Science Foundation grants. Exploration does not take credit for these accolades – no three or six-week program should. But they are an indication of the kinds of students attracted to the program. For many alums, the real merit in attending Exploration was that it was a catalyst in their lives. They discovered a passion at Explo, a way of thinking, and a new way of approaching the world. After Explo, they pursued life and opportunities differently.

When I was in fourth grade, my family moved cross-country and ended up in a town with a gifted education program. Soon after school started in the fall, my brother and I sat through a barrage of tests, after which we were told that we were “gifted” and that we could now participate in the gifted education program. In many ways, the program turned out to be an enrichment program. One day a week – every Tuesday -- we left our regular classroom and went to the gifted education center. We made lots of choices about how we would spend our time and what we would study. We designed projects and went on trips. Learning was active, we used our imaginations, and we were always trying something new. For years, the best day of my week was always Tuesday.

Many years later, when I was designing the Exploration Junior Program, I tried to create a place where every day was “Tuesday” and not just for kids who had been labeled as “gifted.” When I look at the Junior Program now, it’s the kind of place I know I would have loved as a child --- and most other kids would, too. And those lessons I learned as a child – those lessons about how learning can and should be so engaging – are things I keep in the forefront of my mind as I think and work on all Exploration Programs.