9 January 2026
Excitement, Motivation and Joy: NMC Begins by Mark Wilson
By 2026 Media and Communication participant, Mark Wilson
My holiday season was spent in Melbourne, where Summer seemed to be just a suggestion – Christmas Day barely cracked 20 degrees! Flying into Adelaide on the 5th, my suitcase was feeling suspiciously light – t-shirts, shorts, and maybe one light jacket -all thanks to the dire warnings on the forecast of a four-day heatwave. Uh oh.
Our first evening was filled with introductions and reunions, previous AYO participants and first-time campers (like me!), mingling in the stunning grounds of St Mark’s in North Adelaide. A rallying speech by camp director Monica Curro, set the tone for the next two weeks: excitement, motivation, joy. Monday evening also gave me the chance to meet my fellow Media and Communication participants, lovingly called ‘MACers’ (pronounced ‘Maccers’) and our fearless leader, Andrew Aronowicz, or Andy for short.
Fast forward two days, and Wednesday morning was met with the terrifying realisation that it was already 30 degrees before 8 am. The sun was relentless, and the wind seemed to be sourced straight from the Outback. Luckily, the fearless AYO team organised coaches to shuttle us from St Marks to the Adelaide University. Locking ourselves in the air-conditioned Media and Communications writing room (really just a university computer lab), we started scheming – I mean, planning – on all the different ways we could create content out of this heatwave. At lunchtime, we descended upon the masses, taking photos of everyone and their iced drinks, interviewing participants on their tactics on staying cool, and passing around some very stylish sunnies. That afternoon, I spent about two hours trying to wrangle a video editing software for the first time with my fellow MACer, Issy Eagles.
After a balmy (to put it nicely) night, we rose Thursday morning to yet another 30+ degree morning. After a quick group check in with Andy, all of us MACers continued to diligently work away at our own projects. Some went off to interview the superstar conductors and staff, others sat in on the thrilling rehearsals to get inspired while writing. I’m currently preparing to interview our esteemed Camp Director Monica Curro (or Moxie), as well as finalising my program notes for this weekend’s concerts.
Speaking of concerts, the orchestras are sounding phenomenal! Fellow MACer Sarah Huang describes the Bishop Orchestra as a “unrelenting wall of sound.” I for one, cannot wait to hear the two concerts this Saturday. You can catch me and Bridget Hutchinson delivering a pre-concert talk outside Elder Hall in-between Concert 1 and 2!
Looking at the forecast, we’re almost out of the woods, with this weekend returning to some sense of normality. While the temperatures may be dropping, the camp atmosphere remains hot, hot, hot.
By Mark Wilson