Breaking Away

7

Julie Zimmerman, third from left, and friends visit the Harvard campus during Explo.

Many colleges
and universities
offer summer
opportunities for
teens to have fun
and grow.

JULIE ZIMMERMAN
Special to The Jewish News

1/23
1998

80

I

was nervous as I boarded the
plane for Boston last June. I was
headed for the Exploration
Summer Program at Wellesley
College and — for the first time in
my life — about to embark on a
three-week experience without know-
ing a soul.
After attending Tamarack Camps
for the last eight years, I was in des-
perate need of a change. I had been
with the same people for so long, I
decided that I needed to do something
different, without my friends beside
me and a security net below.
I read tons of brochures about
camping adventures throughout the

Julie Zimmerman is a junior at

Berkley High School.

country, as well as Europe, but since
I'd gone camping every summer,
including Tamarack's Pioneer,
Wilderness and Western trips, I was
looking for something new.
After attending a meeting about the
Exploration Summer Program at the
Birmingham Community House —
and hearing the testimonials from
other local teens who'd gone — I
made my decision to go to
Exploration.
Now I have never really been afraid
to do things on my own, but a new
experience like this — similar in a way
to going off to college for the first
time — is quite nerve-wracking.
Fortunately, the way this program —
and many others like it — is set up
establishes a supportive and fun envi-

ronment that also allows a person to
be independent.
There was no "typical" day at
Exploration. However, there is struc-
ture. Monday through Friday, each
person attends two workshops in the
morning. The first one starts at 9 a.m.
Since all meals are optional, we could
literally roll out of bed around 8:58
and still make our first workshop.
In the afternoon, all of Exploration
comes together at the "quad" outside
the dorms to listen to announcements.
There, everyone gets a list of at least
65 activities and events that are being
offered that afternoon.
What amazed me was the number
of different things simultaneously
going on at Explo each day. For exam-
ple, on any given day there might be

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