Let's Get Together: An Overview of Disco Hangouts

Grace C.

What do you like to do in your free time?  Perhaps you enjoy playing sports, reading at your local library, making bracelets, or hanging out with your friends.  One of the blessings of online school is that it allows you to chat with students on the other side of the globe from the convenience of your bedroom.  However, online school does have a significant downside.  Your parents might not be able to afford the plane tickets you need to meet some of your classmates in person.  Not to worry, though–-there are ways for you to meet with international NorthStar students minus the high cost of traveling.  Club calls, grade calls, and student-to-student video meetings are great ways to connect with fellow students from far away.  Another popular way to connect is by attending a Disco Hangout in TEAMS.  Although they are a regular occurrence in NSA’s community, many people do not know they exist.

Disco Hangouts are video calls led by Welcome Committee members or leaders–and, no, they have nothing to do with disco balls or dancing (sorry everyone).  The hangouts are student meetups available to everyone in the school.  “Think of them as grade calls but for all the grades,” explains Nathan, Welcome Committee Leader.  At Disco Hangouts, students enjoy talking to each other and playing games as a group.  Some games might involve being sorted into groups of three or four people to answer icebreaker questions, then reconvening to discuss each other’s answers with everyone else in the gathering.  In one hangout that I attended recently, we were sorted into groups to try and find how many things we had in common with our teammates.  The team that could find the most things its members had in common would be the winner.  Embarrassingly, my team and I only produced five things.  Somehow, the winning team managed to get twenty-one!  This exercise created a lot of laughter and prompted me into interesting conversations with students I had never met.  It helped me and everyone else in my group loosen up, forget our shyness, and smile as we tried to figure out if the fact that we were all sitting down counted as something we had in common.  This fun-loving spirit is at the heart of Disco Hangouts.

Disco Hangouts have existed for several years and continue to help the NSA community thrive.  As the year progresses, they will see exciting new changes.  First, Disco Hangouts will soon be relabeled “Student Hangouts.”  Although the Welcome Committee Leaders intended the current name to be permanent, they decided to change it based on feedback.   The content of the calls, however, will remain the same.  Second, Ms. Shafer and the Welcome Committee leaders are planning to release study calls as a companion to Disco Hangouts.  These calls will be like Disco Hangouts, except students will be gathered for the purpose of studying and not playing games.  Although this may not sound appealing, school is a necessary part of our lives and prepares us for future careers.  Also, the opportunity to study as a group may be more enjoyable than studying alone.  As for now, though, the study calls are a thing of the future.

After reading this article, I hope you feel informed about Disco Hangouts and their purpose here at NSA.  If this article has sparked your interest and you would like to attend a Disco Hangout, please check the General channel in your building (Elementary, Middle, or High School) for dates and related announcements.  Feel free to contact a Welcome Committee member with any questions about hangouts.  Welcome Committee members can be identified by their “Student Navigator” tag in TEAMS. 

Grace C. lives in the United States with her parents and many pets.  She is a tenth grader enjoying her second year at NSA.  Grace has a passion for creative writing and is currently working on a fantasy novel.  Some of her other hobbies include exploring God's creation, raising bugs, hoarding books, and baking.

🧑‍🚀NSA Culture, PopularEIC NSA2024-2025, January 2025 Publication