Field Notes: The Media School Travel Blog

It was the last day of our Media LLC’s trip to St. Louis. We had visited several sites and learned about real-world media careers and skills. We had also had time to have fun around the city and be tourists. Surely the trip had peaked. I don’t think any of us expected the trip to the arch to be as fun and interesting as it was.

The Gateway Arch is synonymous with St. Louis, and as a result, we all took it for granted. It was something cool for us to look at, and that’s about all the thought we gave it. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Upon arriving at the monument, we journeyed underground and were met with a museum on the history of St. Louis. Not only was the museum well-laid out and interesting, but it also contained a lot of cool media. As a student who is studying video production, it was really cool to see that there was a potential career in this. 

Videos and motion graphics were a huge part of everything to do with the arch. Not only were there videos throughout the museum, but there was also a video that was mandatory viewing before going to the top of the arch. The video was mostly just historical footage and graphics edited together. This was really cool to see as someone focusing on video editing. The prospect of being able to put together videos for a museum or a monument is something I had never thought about before this trip and something that I am now very interested in. 

Upon reaching the top of the arch we were met with a beautiful view out over the city and time to reminisce about the trip that we had taken. Not only had the arch provided us with a great view and a great last stop, but it had also given us a look into the history of St. Louis and a whole other aspect of the media production industry. I couldn’t have thought of a better way for the trip to end.