EVP vs VRP, Which one is for you? — NorthStar Navigator

by Costa Chan

Northstar Academy is an online school. It goes without saying that it would be different than a brick and mortar school. Many students don’t know what to expect when they are going to take classes online for the first time; I know I had no idea what to expect. There are two different types of courses that are made available for students at NSA. There are EVP courses which stands for enriched virtual program, and then there are VRP courses. They are both great and each have their own benefits for students in different situations.

EVP courses are for those students that need deadlines. Each week students are given a week's work and are able to work on it throughout the week. The work is due at midnight on Sunday. Also, the course has a weekly live session for the student to attend. At this live session, the student will meet with their teacher as well as other students in the class. These live sessions usually consist of maybe 5-10 other students. If you really want to, you are able to reach out to these classmates and talk to them outside of class and create actual friendships. As a student who has done so, I can confidently say that I have made many friends from my classes who I still talk to over a year later even though we don’t share any classes. You guys are even able to help each other with the classwork if you would like. The benefits of this class also include being able to ask in class questions about the content you are learning which can be very helpful for you in your week’s work.

VRP courses are much looser and much more self-directed. In these courses, students are allowed to set their desired end date, and then work at their own pace. However, some students may take this as an invitation to do no work and then cram later which is very bad. So thankfully, Buzz sets “Target due dates” for you. As a student who procrastinates a lot, these target due dates are very helpful at keeping me on pace as well as doing work each day but allows me to take the weekends off. It is really nice being able to wake up in the morning, do my work, and then take the rest of the day off. If you travel a lot, these courses are probably best for you since you are able to take your time off for traveling whenever and then come back and catch up on your work with no penalties.

EVP and VRP courses are two forms of taking a course, but each is very effective in its own way. Each has its own benefits, and at the end of the day students and their parents are the only ones who can decide what is best for them. To you new students out there, good luck in your learning, and I hope that you end up making the right decision for yourselves.

Seu Chan, or as he prefers to be called Costa Chan is a 17 year old at NSA. It is his second year with NSA. he began with NSA because his family had moved overseas and currently lives in Germany. In his free time he enjoys pleasure reading, writing short stories, playing sports such as soccer and football and he loves spending time with friends.