Yr 9 City Camp Experience
By Austin Rule (former student & current intern)
Coming from the eyes of a past student now staff member, I will be giving you the “behind the scenes” view of Yr 9 city camp.
Day 1: On the first day we arrived at school for a briefing of what the students were getting themselves into. This was a challenging task as keeping 82 excited Yr 9 students quiet for longer than 5 minutes was near impossible. We journeyed into the city and went to the MCG for a grand tour of all its nooks and crannies. Some students who were keen on their sports were even caught interviewing and recording the tour guide to pick his brains for some of his knowledge they could also use for their Big Question research task.
The later half of the day included dinner then a nice evening walk with a surprise for the students… the Melbourne Star! Though sadly some students figured it out on the way and the news spread like wildfire. By the time we got there and shared the surprise with the students, there were no shocked faces or shouts of joy. Students treated themselves to some tasty ice cream afterwards to finish off a big day of exploring and learning.
Student highlight: “Melbourne Star was my highlight as it was a new experience and it topped the MCG because I don’t care about sport” Max L.
Day 2: After a big brekky the Yr 9 group were split in half. One group went to the Melbourne Museum and the other group stayed back to finish their Big Question projects (the two groups swapped activity’s later in the day). At the Melbourne Museum students ventured through an informational and eye opening car safety exhibition called "Road to Zero". It was exciting to know that BHCS (the first pilot school to trial the exhibit) were the second group in the world to use the interactive, state of the art, table tablets. Using this technology, students were required to make an advertisement campaigning for safer roads in Australia. There are definitely some young directors in our vibrant Yr 9 bunch.
Whilst this was going on the other half were finishing off their projects ready for the presentation which included them independently travelling through the city for research before the rain hit. Later that night we watched a movie and relaxed with the sound of rain outside and then went soundly to sleep.
Student highlight: “the virtual reality at the Melbourne museum was my favourite thing of today as it is to do with video games” -Jack R.
Day 3: Started the day off again with breakfast, seems to be a common theme. Today’s activity involved Students running around the city in a confused hurry trying to find stations where they were to complete activities…"The Amazing Race" was today! It was impressive to see how quickly the students navigated through the city considering that on Tuesday it took 30 minutes to complete a Maccas run. After the program, we safely made our way home exhausted after three big days in the city where dreams are made!
Student highlight: “the amazing race was awesome and unpredictable, unpredictable enough to make me trip over onto a tram full of people” - Tiffany D.
Overall camp was an amazing experience for everyone involved. One thing I learnt from being on the staff side of the camp was how much effort and work the teachers put into creating a fun experience for the students. A big well done to Mrs Armstrong who did an incredible job of orchestrating the whole thing and all the team who joined us on camp. Students, make sure you thank the staff!
