The first week of Exeter Summer has passed and everyone in the campus is adapting to their schedules day after day, but a great question to ask yourself is: Why did you come here?
This summer the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy is full of teachers, Access and Upper School students from all around the world. People come all the way here with a main goal, something they want to achieve before leaving Exeter. The truth is, everybody has a different reason to be here — for example, many people are looking forward to making friends.
¨I came to Exeter so that I can make new friends, because I am kind of the shy type, so I am hoping that Exeter Summer will make me more a leader, and hopefully I will get more friends¨, said Eunice Choi from Las Vegas, an Access Exeter student.
On the other hand, many Upper School students want to have this experience to prepare for their future, as Ivory Johnson from California said: ¨My main goal is to get much better at the architecture field, because I really wanna be an architect when I grow up.¨ Or Valeria Ocando from Venezuela: ¨I want to learn how to be independent, because in a year I will go to college, and hopefully I´ll get to live in these five weeks a little of that independence.¨
At the same time, many teachers come here to have a experience beyond teaching. ¨By the end of Exeter Summer, I hope to make an impact on not only the students in my Global Justice class, but my students in Amen Hall as well,” said Dr. Angelica Hardee from Ohio. “One of my passions is mentoring young adults, so I hope that I can guide and give advice to a lot of the students here. I am really interested in learning what their futures may bring, or what they think and what they are trying to explore in these five weeks.¨
Some students have more specific objectives in the campus, such as Will Scrivens from New Hampshire, who has the goal of meeting at least fifty people. Also, Carola Maglione from Dominican Republic who wants to learn as much as possible in her courses, so she can understand how the economy works, as well as helping the empowering of women around the world. ¨I am taking the His/Her/Self class, which is a gender equality class, where I am learning how is like to be a man and woman in different countries,” she said.
Also, German Rodriguez from Venezuela, who is in his second year at Exeter Summer, believes that more than having a single goal, he wants to learn a lot of new things this year and apply them in his life. In addition, Gonzalo Meseguer from Spain, believes this summer will be a great opportunity to expand his knowledge, specially by getting to know many different cultures.
Whichever is your main goal during Exeter Summer, or a complete list of things you want to achieve, as teacher or student, remember you still have plenty of time to make it happen.