NorthStar’s Founding Story according to an NSA Veteran
By Michael C.
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NorthStar has been around for 25 years. For over two decades, NorthStar has been giving kids a strong foundation of education. Back in the day if you were a missionary and moved overseas, there were not many options. A lot of people had to send their kids to boarding schools. Children had to live apart from their families while they attended school. There was a problem, and one man saw a solution.
The founder of NorthStar, Brett Bowers, recognized that many families struggled to live apart during the school year. He thought that with the technology available, surely there could be an online school to provide parents on the mission field with another option.
In the early years of NorthStar, there were only 30 students. There was also only one teacher for every subject area. NorthStar only taught grades 9-12. Every one of those 30 students were part of families serving with various mission agencies, Wycliffe being the most prominent. NorthStar was needing teachers. One of those teachers was Mrs. Susan Cox.
Mrs. Cox was not teaching at a online school before NorthStar because they were not many. She says, “I was teaching at a small local Christian school. (There were very few online academies back then!)”
You have to love your job if you are going to stay there for 25 years. What Mrs. Cox loves so much about NorthStar is that “NSA stands out from other schools with the opportunities for engagement and interaction among our students. NSA is growing and thriving because we first seek to honor God.” In the many NorthStar classes that I have taken I can clearly see NorthStar seeks first to honor God. Mrs. Cox also loves the mission of NorthStar. She says, “The mission of NSA was originally to serve missionary families and to offer an alternative to boarding schools. This mission has remained consistent and has also expanded to serve homeschooling families and schools.”
Although some teachers have come and gone throughout these 25 years, only two teachers have been here the entire time, Mrs. Susan Cox and Mrs. Cheryl Klinker. That is something worth celebrating! One thing that is worth celebrating is that Mrs. Cox was critical to the founding of NorthStar. She says, “I was instrumental in organizing the first NorthStar teacher conference which was held here in Suffolk, VA, where I live. Two of the teachers were living in VA, so it was most feasible financially to have the rest of the teachers travel here.”
NorthStar’s mission created two and a half decades ago affects me today. My parents are missionaries, so I live overseas. I go to NorthStar (obviously) and I love it. It’s been helpful in my education process.
If you are further interested in the founding of NorthStar, be sure to check out the article below.
https://www.navigator.northstar-academy.org/articles/northstar-through-the-ages
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Michael C. currently lives in North Carolina with three siblings and mom and dad. He has been at NorthStar for three years and has recently started writing for the Navigator. He enjoys running, reading, and geeking out about Lord of the Rings.