Alumni

Binny Park

Graduated in 2009

Currently working in the marketing department at RMIT University

A bit about me

I joined St Andrews at Year 7, having spent the first few years of my schooling in South Korea, then the remainder of the primary years at a Catholic primary school in Melbourne.

The years I spent in Catholic school had confused me. I was surrounded by kids who didn’t attend church regularly, as well as parents and teachers with loose Christian values. God became less important in my life. My interests lay more on things of the world and grew desensitised to sin.

While I grew up in a Christian household, external influences convinced me to doubt and ask questions such as: “Does God exist?”; “How do I know the Bible is real anyway?”; “What has Jesus got to do with me?”; and “How much could I do wrong and still get away with it?”

St Andrews was totally different. Every Monday meant Assembly, where the entire school came together to sing, pray and hear words of wisdom from Mr Speck, our Principal at the time, and sometimes from students and other guests. Every morning meant devotionals and sharing in prayer, led by the homeroom teacher or my peers. I can’t say I enjoyed these at the time, but now I miss being surrounded by God’s people and feeling so protected.

As well as my time at St Andrews, church life and family life really helped me continue in the faith God gave me. It wasn’t always an upward curve though, especially when I started university in 2010, straight after graduating high school.

Life beyond St Andrews

Not knowing what to do next, I accepted an offer from the University of Melbourne to study Media and Communications. It was my first preference, but only because its entry requirement was a high score, higher than any of my other preferences, and I hadn’t thought it likely that I’d get in.

I started the course hoping to emerge as a journalist, but the more I studied, the more I disliked the work, my peers, and the culture of the industry. I found writing to be a joyless exercise. I found my peers competitive, vicious and heartless. I found the lecturers self-absorbed, cryptic and simply unhelpful. I felt like I was learning nothing.

Despite my less-than-positive experience at university, I did learn a lot – mostly from exposure to people so different to me and to the people I had known. I made many Muslim friends and gay friends. I met many atheists. Agnostics. Socialists. Conservatives. This was the first true and confronting picture of the world I saw, outside of high school.

I moved on to study some more, to see if that would give me a direction in life. I did a year of masters in speech pathology, then quit. I completed a certificate in teaching English as a second language, but never became a teacher. I got a casual job at RMIT University in admin, which evolved into many different roles involving marketing and communications, to my role now: Conversion and Customer Engagement Coordinator.

You won’t believe how many different jobs are actually out there. No one at school was able to teach me that. It’s something you must see for yourself. There are also so many ways to get a job. While I was at RMIT, I was headhunted for a Marketing Manager role at La Trobe College, where I worked for a few months, then returned to RMIT.

Relationships, failures, decisions

In the midst of all the studying and working, I had my fair share of partying and failed relationships, all of which were not right for me. I learnt a lot through dating and meeting different people, and felt God’s hand pluck me out of the really unhealthy lifestyles and relationships.

Growing up meant making decisions for yourself. Almost 10 years into my adulthood, I realised that I was always going to make mistakes. I was always going to sin. I was always going to make selfish decisions.

But what kept me hopeful was that Christ died for my sins, and I’m always granted a second chance – multiple chances, even. I’m sure I’ve used up thousands of chances, I’m sure, but thankfully, there’s no limit to God’s grace and mercy.

If there’s any lesson I’ve learnt from life so far, it’d be that God never lets go of His children. No one can snatch you out of His hand. No matter how many dumb decisions you make, no matter how much you repeatedly make the same mistakes, God will bring you out of the mess, and closer to Him. I’ve learnt not to worry about my past, present or future, but to stay content with what I have been given.

The best thing you can do is continue praying and reading God’s word to hear what He has to say to you, and enjoy the fullness of His love.

Any advice?

It’s almost been 10 years since I left high school, and I’ve grown in ways I could never have imagined. I’d never been a person with any clear goals or dreams. Maybe you’re like me. I’d never expected to be working in marketing, or that I’d be working at a university. I might not stay in marketing. I might change my career to try something completely different. I don’t know.

What I do know is that wherever God is leading you, you’re in good hands, in the hands of someone who knows you better than you do, and has plans for you beyond your dreams. Trust Him always. Thank Him, and try to stay content in everything He’s given you. He may defy your will and steer you in an unexpected direction. But He’ll be with you on every journey, the good ones and the bad ones.