On Tuesday April 30, the VCE Unit 1 Media class squeezed our way past the masses entering St Andrews Christian College for Open Day and escaped to the city for some adventures. Rev. Grant kindly chauffeured us, and we were fortunate to have Ms Chun keep us company for the day.

This excursion links directly with everything the Media class has been studying this year, as they have been analysing media representations, trying their hand at a range of media productions, and more recently looking at Australian media.

We started at ACMI where the old-school video games took us down memory lane, and we marvelled at the intricacies of the early media technologies. Students had the freedom to explore the many interactive displays that document the story of the moving image.

Inspired and ready for some sunshine, we took to the streets of Melbourne to try our hand at street photography. It was great to have the freedom to wander past the Arts Centre, down Southbank, through Degraves street, and around to the famous graffiti walls. A casual lunch out for some sustenance gave us a chance to reflect on our beautiful city.

There were moments of creativity, moments of learning, but the image that stuck with me most was when a homeless man wandered past us. He was heavily laden with plastic bags and other belongings. The sun had just come out and a rather dull scene came to life, contrasting beautiful greenery with glowing skyscrapers. Into this setting the homeless man strolled down to a patch of grass to have a sleep.

Each of us in this city has a story. For many people, their story is one of hardship and survival. As God’s children, our story is one of belonging and acceptance when we turn to him in repentance. I hope our story also involves looking around us with compassion and kindness, in this wonderful city we call home.