Each year during the month of May, the seniors of Wilmington Friends are given a unique opportunity that allows them to take part in an experience known as “senior exploration”. The purpose of senior exploration is to give seniors a chance to use real-life skills beyond the small community here at Friends. The seniors are able to base their explorations off of any interests that they may have, which allows for an incredibly diverse range of possibilities to choose from. Although the explorations themselves may be nearly anything, each must follow a guiding question that each student is required to come up with and answer while completing their study. Students must also find a mentor to help them develop a plan of action for their exploration. After each student has completed their exploration, they will then write an essay and make a presentation describing their experience. This year’s senior explorations range from physical activity like yoga, to studying the architecture and culture of cities.

This year, Meera Kohli ’15, plans on doing yoga for her senior exploration. She will be taking classes at the Hockessin Athletic Club to complete her 50 hours of exploration. Kohli’s mentor for her senior exploration is the yoga director at the Hockessin Athletic Club, Maria DiCamilio. While working on her senior exploration, her guiding question that she has planned is “How can yoga help me connect with my mind and body?” When asked why she chose to focus on yoga for her senior exploration, Kohli replied, “I’m really doing it because I think it’s a great way to become more peaceful and centered, especially for athletics and just in general.” Just like Kohli, many other students in this year’s graduating class are doing a lot of unique senior explorations.

Amanda Ramos ’15 expects to have her senior exploration take place outside of the United States. She is heading to London for a week in late May to study the impressive architecture and the extremely diverse culture the city offers. Another reason Ramos thought London would be a great place to visit is that she has never visited another part of the world outside of North America. Ramos also feels that heading to London will help her get a feel for whether or not she might want to study abroad during college. Fittingly, Ramos’s guiding question is “Would I like to study abroad during college? What are the different challenges that I may face when studying abroad, and how does overcoming them help me to become more independent?” Ramos’s mentor for her exploration is a man named Peter Hood, a family friend of hers that lives in Oxford, an area right outside of London.

Overall, seniors like Ramos and Kohli show that no matter what one’s interest may be, he or she can pursue it throughout the senior exploration. Many students that have done the exploration in the past have had nothing but good things to say about their experience. For example, Maria Rizzo, from last year’s class of 2014, said, “My senior exploration with the New Castle County police was an overall incredible experience. With everything going on currently pertaining to issues with the national police force, I am glad I got to experience firsthand some of their work and try to understand some of the decisions they make.” Rizzo was able to follow policemen around to all the interesting things that go along with police officers like investigating burglaries and looking at crime scene photos. Rizzo is now a double major at the University of Delaware for both criminal justice and sociology. Another quote Rizzo also said about her positive experience is  “I think the senior exploration is an invaluable experience and should be used as so.” Rizzo’s experience shows just how life-changing and amazing it can be to explore something that interests you. It is also great for students to be able to see if it is something you would be willing to keep doing in the future, which is why Senior Exploration is such an awesome opportunity to have at Wilmington Friends.