Weekend Trips | Senior Program
Paddle a kayak through the Thimble Islands. Go to a Broadway show. Hike the Sleeping Giant. Visit the Guggenheim. Hear the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood. Explore the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island. Tour the campuses of Harvard and NYU. The Senior Program offers more than 40 fantastic trips each session, allowing you to explore locations throughout New York City and the New England area.
Weekend trips are focused on cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities, including sight-seeing, theatre trips, and outdoor adventures. We also use weekends as a time to offer additional on-campus workshops and sports clinics. Although many trips are available to all students, some trips are limited in size due to location or the necessity of reserving space in advance. On any given weekend, we offer up to 30 different trips to choose from. Weekend trip sign-up occurs at the Program.
NBC Studio Tour, Times Square, Mystic Aquarium, Soho, Paintball, Rock Climbing, Six Flags, Chelsea Market Food Tour, Museum of Modern Art, The Lion King, Deep Sea Fishing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Litchfield Jazz Festival, Newport Folk Festival, White Water Rafting, Yankees and Mets Baseball Games, Hammonasset Beach, Campus Visits to Harvard, Brown, Columbia, and NYU, and more!
The following special extended day and overnight trips will be offered in 2010 in addition to our regularly programmed weekend trips and are not required. There is an additional fee for each special weekend trip. All lodging, meals, transportation, tickets, and organized events (other than spending money) are included in the prices.
If you are interested in attending a weekend event, you must sign up on your application. During the summer, you may drop a weekend event with parental permission. A refund for special weekend events will be available only if a replacement is found.
1st Session: July 3-4/10-11
2nd Session: July 24-25 / July 31-August 1
This weekend will give you the opportunity to experience some of the most exciting highlights of “Beantown.” You will get to know Boston on a Duck Tour in an authentic, renovated World War II amphibious landing vehicle that will carry you through the streets of Boston and into the Charles River. You will also see the USS Constitution, Boston Common (the oldest public park in the United States), and dine at the Hard Rock Cafe before seeing the Blue Man Group. Glimpse Boston’s past when you visit Quincy Market, Fanueil Hall, and the Freedom Trail. Other not-to-be-missed Boston sites include the Museum of Fine Arts, Fenway Park, and the unique shopping area of Harvard Square.
Cost: $225
1st Session: July 9-11; 2nd Session: July 30-August 1
This two-night trip to Washington, D.C. will give you an exciting taste of our nation’s capital. You will arrive Friday evening and dine at the ESPN Zone before heading out for a tour of the city's monuments. During the weekend, you’ll visit the Pentagon Memorial, Capitol Hill, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the White House, the National Archives, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Saturday night, you will cruise the Potomac River on the Monuments Speedboat Tour, discovering fun facts about the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial. Make a final stop at the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall before arriving back at Yale on Sunday evening.
Trip Cost: $390
1st Session: Sun, July 4; 2nd Session: Sun, July 25
Newport is famous for its picturesque beaches, rich history, and distinct New England flavor. You will head out early Sunday morning and will spend the day seeing the best of this coastal town. During this extended day-trip, you will have a chance to relax in the sun, toss a Frisbee, or go for a swim at Newport Beach. You’ll also tour one of Newport’s world-renowned mansions on Bellevue Avenue and have time to explore the shops and boutiques along Thames Street, where you might watch glass-blowing artists at work or find souvenirs of New England to bring home. The day will be capped off with a traditional New England lobster and clambake.
Trip Cost: $140
Weekend Campus Visits
Each weekend, as part of the trip selection process, students can choose to go on visits to select college campuses in the Northeast. There will be visits to two different campuses each weekend, and each visit will include a self-guided tour of campus, a visit to the bookstore, lunch on or near the campus, and time to explore the neighborhoods. These visits are a great way for students to get a feel for the campus and the surrounding area, and begin to identify what they are looking for in a college.
Campus visits this year are planned for Harvard University, Brown University, Columbia University, and New York University (NYU).
Conversation From Our Summer Site
alison from illinois
Alison is a residential student from Illinois in her first year at Explo. Next Fall she will be a sophomore, but she's already starting her college search in earnest, a process helped by Explo's college workshop and college fair. She's also having a great time in her courses.
And how was paintball?
That was fun. I had never been before. My roommates had this genius idea to go paintballing, so we went. It was a blast. I'd do it like 20,000 more times. Good experience. The staff play too so that was the most fun [laughs].
And what was your trip today?
I went to the college workshop on campus. It was pretty good. The guys leading it knew a lot. They told us about how to get into college, things to do and not do when applying, and pretty much how they decide who to accept. I actually signed up for college workshop myself. My mom was like, "You want to do that?" So, yeah, I originally wanted to go here to Yale, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity to come here for Explo. Now I'm thinking of either here or somewhere international for college.
Did the workshop help prepare you for the application process?
Oh, yeah. There were some things I would have never known about applications -- like the thing about email addresses. You're not supposed to have addresses that are too "fun" or like "friend" addresses, so I'll probably just go home and make a serious one [laughs].
>> Read More of Alison's Conversation