Books, More Books, and Contests

By John R.

Reading is one of those things that some ardently love, or fervently hate. Some consider reading a hobby, while others prefer making videos to upload onto YouTube. While none of these opinions are wrong, we should never take for granted nor forsake reading a book the good-old-fashioned way. On the subject of books, you may or may not be aware of the recent reading contest NSA held. Hosted by your Student Council―which is the body of students that strive to make NSA a fun and inviting place―the Reading Contest was designed to make reading enticing and rewarding.The Stuco Special Projects Coordinator, Elena, said, “I enjoyed seeing how excited people were for the contest and how thrilled they were about the forfeits.” Most of you probably know about it by now, so I won’t bore you with the details. Raw information is easy to come by, but the opinions of those who won, or who lost, are a bit harder to find. Just because it's a bit more work than just brushing up on a Teams channel.

Maia, the winner of the High School bracket said excitedly: “Winning is absolutely wonderful, I’m extremelyyyyyyyyyyy competitive which adds to it.” Although Maia won, everyone still had a blast. On the subject of the contest, Elena said, “I think the two key factors are 1) is this contest going to be fun to compete in? And 2) is the contest something they can compete in? Because I think what made the Reading Contest so successful was that you didn't have to have a special skill set to read, you just had to be able to read xD and there were things that we did like the forfeits and calls that made it more fun.” Noah says, “I think the best part was each day having an excuse to read 24/7 and getting to wonder about and ask [other students] how many they have [read] and the friendly competition.” If their historical record of fun and engaging contests is of any use, maybe grabbing a quick snack and finishing The Two Towers might not be as boring as it has to be, not that it is anyway, that book is a classic. Seriously, StuCo is sure to engage in many more reading activities, and they are all bound to be epics of their own.

If you are trying to find the motivation to pick up a book and read—well, unless of course you solved that problem with the reading contest, and if you did, good for you—then look no further. Books are not only a to another world (even if it lasts only until you’re done reading) but hey can also be a great source of information. If the the first thing that just popped into your head is Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos (who literally started Amazon as a book retail) then you’re on the right track in that books are a critical part of life, learning, and character building. That may seem a bit trivial, but it's important to develop good reading skills. For obvious reasons, I’m not insinuating that the minute you start reading a book you’re going to become the cool smart person that's the brains behind every movie plot, that would be false advertising. But the point I’m trying to make is that picking up the Lord of the RIngs can’t hurt. Besides, if there is a house rule that you have to read the book before watching the movie, there has never been a better reason to get over your slump and start reading it.

To conclude, there are too many good opportunities to have a fireside reading session. There are always reading contests to be had, whether it's NSA related, or a personal battle royale with your friend. The NSA Reading Contest is old news by now, but there are still lessons to glean from it, and some laughs, too. Maia won the High School bracket, Alex won the middle school bracket, and Esther won the elementary school bracket. However the middle school bracket was highly contested as Noah made an impressive slide into second place, about 10-20 minutes shy of first. Despite this, Noah said: “Winning isn’t important and I am glad for Alex.” To say this contest was a success is an understatement. With over 201,181 minutes read by 45 participants, it's one of the largest Reading contests in NSA history. If StuCo ever decides to host a contest like this again, be sure to hop on board. You might even get to see Caleb, your StuCo president, do some more Karaoke! (which is an added bonus…just ask anyone who saw his first karaoke) As said by the Karaoke Jedi, Obi-Caleb-Kenobi, “It was... it was an experience for sure. I had a blast doing it, though!” A quote that practically sums NSA up in a nutshell. 

Columns: 🎉NSA Events

John R. lives in Oregon, in the United States and this is his first year at NSA. He is in 11th grade, and enjoys pastimes such as reading, hanging out with friends, friendly debates, and speaking international affairs. He also loves studying and speaking of U.S. and Military history. Future career goals include engineer, architect, firefighter, or police officer.

🎉NSA EventsEIC NSA2021-2022, December 2021 Issue