Let me be honest here, I am not even slightly artistic. I don’t say this to be modest or to make my banner look more impressive but rather to communicate the sinking feeling I got when I read what the assignment would be.

Anyway the first order of business was to come up with something that would be inspirational but not hackneyed or condescending. This involved a long session of lying on my bed staring at the ceiling, my mind completely blank of all inspiration. I really didn’t think I could do this assignment and that self-doubt was the biggest obstacle I faced. Lucky for me that I have really great friends who were prepared to help out any way they could. They endured a few pointless brainstorming sessions with me before I finally settled on something I felt was helpful to understanding University and the people who attend it. But before I could give the idea a place on campus it still needed a physical shape.

Last week was the final study break before the end of semester and, predictably, I didn’t get much studying done. Rather the time was spent sourcing arts and crafts material in preparation for a marathon session of banner building. My original vision for the banner was a simple affair that was made from paper and illustrated with simple felt pens. It was only when I was in the Craft store that the possibilities and options I had really became apparent and my vision for the banner began to take on a life of its own. Without giving too much away big sheets of cardboard and tubes of finger-paint were purchased and the construction began.

So with the banner taken care of the next issue was where I would hang it. Bush Court was not allowed under the competition rules so I had to really think about my other favourite spots on campus. I could’ve picked the Tav where I’ve shared more than a few drinks with friends, the peace garden where some pretty brave ducks swim or one of the many places where I’ve passed the time between classes. In the end I picked the Peace Pavilion because it was there, during my orientation week last year, that there was a free sausage sizzle for all the humanities and social science students. I met a lot of new people that day and the realisation of how big University actually was began to sink in but it wasn’t that scary because I was surrounded by people in the same situation as me and if they weren’t panicking then I didn’t need to. This all relates back to my banner but we’ll get to that. So after making sure that the University wouldn’t mind me hanging up a big banner the location was settled. We set B-day to be Monday the 5th of October, yesterday in other words, all the preparations were completed and we hung the banner up in the flat to prevent any damage occurring over-night. That was when I first realised how much bigger the banner was in comparison to the one I had in my mind.

I think at this point a bit of explanation about the banner is in order. I do owe my long-suffering art teacher from primary school a great deal of thanks for the finished product. She would always walk around the classroom and ask the students what they were up to, I never understood why she would approach me at all as it was a chore for the both of us but to her credit she persisted in trying to educate me. The most memorable time was when she walked up to the easel where I was industriously working and asked me what I was up to. I don’t quite remember what the painting was meant to be and I doubt I knew at the time either so I launched into a very creative explanation of what it was trying to be that she listened very carefully to. Then she took out a pen and wrote on my paper “K.I.S” which stood for Keep It Simple. In the army of course it has an extra “S” for “Stupid” which I think she would have dearly liked to have put in but her professionalism did not allow her to. It’s one of the few lessons from primary school that I really took to heart and I believe my banner benefited from it.

My banner simply reads “Believe in” and has two blank sheets of cardboard underneath for people to give their own opinions on what they believe in or what their passion is. The idea was that instead of just telling you guys what inspires or motivates me and hoping it would work for you, rather get everyone who wanted to contribute to tell you what motivates them. University is scary and a lot of people worry that they won’t have anything in common with the people there so I also wanted to show just how normal and down-to-earth the students actually are. It was also a great excuse to sit out in the sun for a few hours.

Anyway B-Day came and brought with the first day of spring, I don’t want to say the two are related but it’s too convenient to be ignored. Our first attempt to hang the banner did not go as planned as we had not counted on the wind that tried very hard to tear our banner down from the poles. More hole-punching and twine threading later and the banner was firmly tethered and B-Day had officially begun. It was great fun. I got to meet such a huge cross-section of the people who studied at Murdoch and each of them had something to contribute to the banner. We got some pretty interesting answers and not all of them serious but that was kind of the point. It was the student banner and therefore it needed to cover both sides of the student psyche, serious and fun. However no matter what people were writing they were all smiling and I would like to believe they all enjoyed the experience. As for what I believe motivates and inspires me, I think it would be all my friends. They are very special people who helped me out with the project and I don’t think it would have come off without their help and encouragement.