The Gift of the Covid-19 Pandemic: A New Road Ahead

By Aaron E.

For most, the Covid-19 pandemic has been nothing but trouble. The deadly disease has wreaked havoc all over the world. I, however, have gotten something positive out of the pandemic: if it hadn't been for the lockdowns, I may never have found NSA.

Beginning in first grade, I attended a local, private Christian academy with the intent of graduating from there. The school was very small, with its student body, including all students from Pre-K to 12th grade, never numbering more than 200 students. I had a fabulous experience from first to fourth grade, but things got more difficult after fourth grade. Not only did the coursework become more challenging, but now we had different teachers for different classes, meaning that we had to switch rooms multiple times during the day. I was always racing around trying to get everything done. I also found that I had less free time during the school year than before.

Then, one Friday in May of 2020, the announcement came: due to the concerns about Covid-19, we would be finishing the year online. We knew that the administration had been considering moving us online, but it still felt like a huge shock. The rest of the year was very different. We went to class as usual but online, assembling in a Teams meeting instead of a classroom. Eventually, we reached the end of the year and went off to summer break.

When we returned for the 2020-2021 school year, most everyone was back in person. However, a few of us at higher risk for Covid, including myself, stayed online. For a given class, the teacher of that class would join a Teams meeting with us so that we could see them and the classroom whiteboard. When that class was over, I would join a meeting with the teacher of the next class and repeat the process for every class. Despite how busy this was, I started to realize that I was actually really enjoying learning from home.

Since I had been enjoying working on my schoolwork from home, my parents and I started looking into options for online learning. A friend of my mom’s had experience with homeschooling and online academies and gave my mom a list of schools to look at, one of which was NSA. After careful consideration, we decided on NSA and somewhat cautiously gave it a try for eighth grade. And I loved it! I had more free time and I could work with computers more, which I enjoy. Now, here I am still enjoying NSA!

When we were considering making the switch, my parents were concerned that I wouldn’t be able to connect with my friends. I pointed out to them, though, that I was very busy at school and had fewer opportunities to interact with friends at school than in the lower grades. I really only spent time with them outside of school hours. I still interact with my close friends from my old school, but I now can interact with them more due the extra free time and flexibility I have at NSA. I also have been able to meet new friends through NSA.

Furthermore, I have more social interaction than ever because of the Navigator! Even though this was only my first year on the Navigator staff, I quickly found my place on the team. If you want to experience working closely with your classmates, I highly recommend joining the Navigator staff next year!

Aaron E. is a high school student from the northeastern coast of the USA who is in his second year at NorthStar Academy. He is excited to be joining the Navigator staff for the first time this year. Some of his hobbies are freshwater fishing, reading, and digital 3D modeling. He enjoys spending time in nature with family and friends and exploring it from the water. He loves most anything related to science, technology, nature, and engineering.

🗞️Staff StoriesEIC NSA2022-2023, May 2023 Publication