🌐December Publication🌐

Everyone has a favorite season, and, for me, fall and spring are at the top of my list. I love camping in the fall and cooking chili or a cobbler in the dutch oven over an open fire. I love watching the leaves change colors and begin to cover the ground. It also means sweater weather has arrived! My favorite season is probably spring, though, because it represents new life and I love all of the green and everything beginning to bloom. My husband and I love to go hiking in the spring in the Sipsey Wilderness. It is known as the “land of 100 waterfalls” and they flow so well after the spring rains.

A requiem Mass is a prayer for the dead used in Roman Catholic services (McConnell). From the Latin for “rest,” the requiem meditates on the final judgment and the Christian’s hope of salvation (“English Translation”). There have been many musical settings to this prayer, but among them, the Requiem of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart stands out as one of the greatest of all time.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for DragonFire by Donita K. Paul, the fourth installment in the five-book DragonKeeper Chronicles.  

At NSA, everyone has unique skills and abilities, and no one person is exactly the same. So, when the Student Council proposed NSA’s Got Talent to take place from October 7 to October 19, it was well-received, though people were not quite as excited as the Student Council team had hoped. There were varying responses within buildings, with the High Schoolers and Middle Schoolers being the most active in NSA’s Got Talent, and the Elementary School Building having much fewer responses. However, everyone seemed willing to participate.

While some would assume that being a part of a school newspaper only involves writing, the reality is very different.  From editors working on perfecting the articles of others to the publication team managing the website, the Navigator has multiple unique positions that have not been shown to the public eye.

A small boy was talking to his friend in Singapore when he heard the beckoning call from downstairs. He said his salutations and finished the call then rushed to the living room. The staircase was lined with colorful garland and resting in front of the door sat a cozy snowman doormat. He turned and entered the large living room, a large Christmas tree sat in the far corner. The mother waved her hand, calling the boy to her. She had a large smile on her face, brimming from ear to ear.

If you are ready for some puzzling fun, check out the Navigator Search-A-Word below created by a member of the Navigator staff.

If you are ready for another round of some puzzling fun, check out the Navigator Crossword Puzzle below, which was created by a member of the Navigator staff. Below the Crossword Puzzle is the set of questions you are trying to answer using the articles in our December 2024 Publication.

Imagination, or the ability to think beyond reality to come up with new ideas, is a vital skill in life, though different from academic skills that are normally taught in school. However, it is often difficult to think creatively, especially for those who have not had practice. Enter the world of roleplays.

The Creative Writing Club recently held a competition for the best short story. Writers used a fantasy prompt to create engaging and exciting tales. Afterward, members of the Book Club served as judges, voting on their favorite story.  The winning submission for the Fall 2024 Fiction Contest is “Storyteller” by Gracie C. Here is the story:

...Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. (NIV Bible, 1 Kings 19.11-19.12)

Imagine being a full-time student at NSA, but schoolwork is not all you do. Apart from studying at least five hours per day, you also spend between one to three hours per day training for your sport. This is the reality of a few select NSA students, to whom their sport is just as important as their studies. Student-athletes are a unique group of students who demonstrate how useful NSA can be, and who show a level of dedication that is hard to come across. Let us dive into the most popular sport practiced by this group of people: football, better known in the US as soccer. 

About a week ago I met up with a friend over coffee. While she was working on her laptop across from me, I drafted the outline of my recent English essay. My friend said something that caught my attention: “Wow, it’s like you’re living as a college student already.” Surprisingly, it seemed true. Within the past twenty minutes I had booked a taxi, paid the driver, ordered my drink, and begun to work off my phone’s Wi-Fi, all on my own. It got me thinking, what similarities are there between online high school and college students’ day-to-day? What freedoms and responsibilities come from online schools that are carried into college? How can attending an online school prepare students for college life outside academics?

The year 2024 is an election year, which means that politics is something almost all US citizens are aware of. Whether one wants to hear about what is going on in the political realm or not, it is relatively unavoidable. This means that this is not something only adults care about, but many teenagers and NSA students are involved in politics and keep up with it too. After all, the youth are the generation responsible for shaping the future of the US – so why not explore the policies that matter most to NSA students?