The History of the Navigator
By The Navigator Staff
The NorthStar Navigator, affectionately called the “Nav,” was established in 2006. Ever since then, it has continued to serve the student body by bringing stories of intrigue and interest to students across the globe. As NorthStar’s school newspaper, the Navigator shares the latest news about NorthStar happenings, student life, global issues, and so much more. However, the Navigator has evolved substantially as a school newspaper since 2006. So, the Nav Staff has decided to dig deep into old article archives to bring you the history of the Navigator.
Genesis Era
By John C.
In 2006, the idea of a school newspaper at NSA was brought to life. The name of this newspaper was the Northstar Navigator. While this name has not been changed once over the past 17 years, the style of the Navigator has changed quite a bit. The first four publications of 2006 were released in a PDF format. Many publications from that fifth publication to the present have been released via a Northstar Navigator website. As I said above, the first publication was released in 2006. That publication was very different to the Navigator you read today. The first PDF that was released contained 13 pages of material. The early Navigator created publications pertaining to a wide variety of topics. The Creative Corner was where the Navigator featured student submissions. There were also parts of the publication highlighting NSA students. This area was called Who’s Who on NSA (WWON). WWON allowed writers to interview students with special stories in order to make people feel more connected. There was also a humor section for most publications, and I hope we can bring that back in the future. There were also parts where writers would review music, books, art, and movies. The Nav also made sure to interview seniors and NSA newbies to get their ideas about Northstar. After thirteen publications during the 06-07 school year, the Navigator completed its first year as a school newspaper.
(Below is an example of what readers would see when they opened a Navigator article in 06-07.)
Fortunately, the NorthStar Navigator returned for the 07-08 school year. This year was a big year for the Navigator, introducing a new website design. With this new design, each publication had a different background. Popular topics returned, including humor, NSA updates, student submissions, WWON, current events, movie reviews, and more. However, several new columns appeared: senior quotes became a popular topic to look for in each publication. The Navigator also started highlighting student achievements along with birthdays and student photography (snapshots). Less common appearances were made by portions about food recipes and fashion advice. Lastly, the Navigator began including random polls at the end of every publication. Readers could then email someone at the Navigator and submit their answer. During this second year, the Navigator published 12 times.
(Below is an example of what readers would see when they opened a Navigator article in 07-08.)
Expansion Era
By John R.
As for 2008 up to 2011, most of you reading this are probably young whippersnappers who either weren’t alive during this time or were still learning your first word. Let that sink in, the Nav has been around longer than you. Of course, if you can remember past this to the very beginning years as covered above, good on you, you’re probably not Gen Z. This was a time when the Navigator was still using pdfs for its articles, and before Microsoft developed Teams. It was during the FirstClass days of the Navigator, when, according to Ms. Permann, “I would have seen it in the Teacher's Lounge, but students would have seen it in one of the common areas in First Class for students. I can't recall if it was called the Student Lounge or something else. It may have been emailed out as well.” Indeed, the Navigator was still very different from what it is now. Rest assured, they were still publishing articles, but on a different scale than it is now. Articles in the good old days mostly consisted of a few pages of small headlines. Keep in mind, this was also during the time when the internet was still being fully developed. That's right, the internet hasn’t been around for that long! Can you believe that people in the 90’s and early 2000’s didn’t have YouTube? The pdf publications would have a primitive, young-internet look to it. You know–blue links, Times New Roman, and small with no animations. But despite this lack of modern tech, the Navigator still managed to be incredible. Its publishing was not like what you’re used to. As Mrs. Cox points out, “They are not titled ‘Navigator,’ but it is possible that these are the precursor for the Navigator. They were published twice a month.” Yes indeed, the Navigator wasn’t fully formed yet, and people of this time were spoiled for content. Most of the content would be small, short articles and announcements about various happenings. There was a puzzle, or two, at the end of every article. Curiously enough, authors' names were never mentioned, save teachers' names.
Refinement Era
By Rebecca C.
The Nav has been through a lot of changes over the years, and so the next time period we bring you to is from the years 2011 to 2014. During this time period, the Navigator was run by the student council. Additionally, the articles were not posted on a website, but rather created by students on html pages (viewing them thirteen years later has proceeded to deeply confuse my poor computer). Cecelia Schmidt was the editor from 2010-11. The articles ranged from from talking about the Northern Lights to “Christe’s Corner,” where a girl named Christe answered questions from students such as “Why most people don't have a pet llama” or “Why is it that golfers can’t see that no matter how much they fish, if they golf, then they’re not a true fisherman at heart?” It seems this may have been a precursor to the now defunct Bulletin Board’s “Outrageous Advice.” There were music columns, trivia columns, and more! Additionally, it looked like this:
Hey, at least no one can say that our old website looked boring! :)
The 2011-12 school year had Raegan Allinder as editor, with fun student-written articles about riddles, recipes, fashion, and more! (I even tried to submit my answer for one of the riddles, unfortunately I was a decade too late, haha.) Sadly, I am unaware what happened in the 2012-13 school year, as none of the files will open on my computer. The 2013-14 school year, however, was the complete opposite! There are plenty of files stored away, as well as the records of deadlines for the writers! There are some very helpful articles on photography, travel, short stories, and more! In fact, the articles in this time period, while still managed and written by StuCo, reminded me a lot of the current articles that we write! After looking at various files I determined that the editor/leader of the Navigator at this point was Jake Cavon, and he was called the StuCo historian.
The years of 2011 to 2014 for the Navigator were growing years, as they morphed from a few articles on an html page to a more filled-out publication which included many diverse topics and writers. As the publications go on, you can see the Nav becoming more and more like what it is today.
Renaissance Era
By Janna P.
From 2014-2018, the Navigator was mostly on FirstClass, fondly referred to as FC, the previous social platform for NSA. To my remembrance, everyone had the Nav as a folder on their desktop (circled below). When new articles came out, a little red flag like the one with an arrow pointing to it below would pop up on the folder, and students would know to go read the latest articles.
Anyone who wanted to write for the Nav could do so; all they had to do was contact the editor-in-chief to let them know they wished to join. Some – not all – Nav writers had held a StuCo position at one time or another; this was simply because StuCo members were usually the most active students. Carolyn S., for example, was a Nav writer and prevalent StuCo Secretary and grade rep, and Emily T. was both a regular Nav columnist and StuCo Librarian. A few popular columns throughout this period of the Nav’s history include “#SpreadTheGolden” (a column about NSA lore) by beloved former StuCo President Morgan R.; “The Spoon” (a general report of iNSAne happenings complete with Spoony, the column’s mascot) by Lydia R.; “Caught in the Glow” (a student spotlight) by Brianna H.; “Cliffhangers” (short stories co-written by students) by Carolyn S. and later taken over by Brianna H.; “A Pinch of Thought” (a hilarious column with various focuses such as Murderous Math, Horrific History, Comical Comedy, and Wacky Holidays) by Hudson and Lydia R.; and “Food and Nutrition” (a column where typically a student was interviewed about a cooking experience and a recipe was featured) by Emily T.
Depending on writer availability, as this could vary significantly, the Nav was published almost every month of the school year from August to June. Some articles appeared spontaneously, where a writer would write an article once or twice and never pick it back up. Most articles kept face as monthly columns that readers could greatly look forward to viewing.
Students had a place specifically to leave feedback for and talk about the Navigator, called the Navigator Jabber. It was a folder in a folder, if you will. By clicking on the main Navigator folder on your desktop, another window would open, bearing a list of various folders part of the Nav folder, and the Navigator Jabber was one of them.
In February 2018, with the upcoming switch to Microsoft Office in mind, the Nav was given a new home on an upgraded, modern website, found here: https://nsastuco.wixsite.com/navigator/articles.
Transformation Era
By Keenan W.
This era of change at the Navigator was from 2018-2020. During these years, the Navigator switched from being a part of StuCo; and then, in the last months of 2019 and at the beginning of 2020, the Navigator became its own class on Buzz. It was also during this time that Navigator finally got its current website and permanent home. Not many articles were published during the Era of Change. Most of them, if not all of them, are Navigator Staff’s NSA Stories. These articles and the Era of Change were highlighted by Katrina B., Caylee L., Aaron C., Tirzah H., and Savannah L.’s articles that highlighted their journeys at not only the Navigator but also at NorthStar Academy. The key point of the Era of Change,though, was the nostalgic collab titled “An Awkward Article.” The article highlighted NSA’s familiar tradition of awkward elbow pictures, where, when students meet up, they take a photo with their elbows touching, and share their meetup and pictures on Teams’ designated channel. The article perfectly brought together one of NSA’s favorite traditions, and with it, a close to the time of change, which opened the gateway to the present era.
Present Era
Michael C.
So we come to it, the present era. During the past three years, the Navigator has published around 160 articles. I think to understand the Navigator best during this age we need to bring back and review just a few of the articles from this time.
First up, an article written by a previous staff writer, Tirzah H. The title of this article is “The World is Our Campus,” and it was published in February of 2021. Tirzah highlights five students’ lives in different places around the world. Tirzah shows that, while NSA’s headquarters are in Mississippi, its students are stationed around the world, which makes the world our campus.
Next is an article from December of 2021, John R’s article, “Life as President of StuCo.” In this article, John is able to show life from the perspective of the president of StuCo. What John does so great in this article is to break away from the traditional question and answer format used by so many. John is able to masterfully intertwine quotes from the StuCo president, Caleb. In this article, there is humor, information, and heart as Caleb shares what his role as leader looks like. This is a great article; you should check it out!
Last, but certainly not least, is the article “The End of an Era” by Keenan W. This article was published shortly after the death of the long reigning monarch in the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II. Keenan shows all the events the queen lived through as well as the positive and negative reactions to her death and how her death is truly the end of an era.
All three of these articles are truly fantastic. During this current age, the Navigator continues to make changes to its structure, making more and more decisions focused on student interest. Last year, the Navigator had an editor, and this year we have a PR representative. Thanks to our PR rep, we continue to get the word out about the Navigator.
Columns: 🧑🚀NSA Culture 🌎Collaborative Articles
The NorthStar Navigator has been through many changes and adaptations. As NorthStar and technology evolve, the Navigator evolves as well. Hopefully, it will continue to be a place for NSA students to get the latest iNSAne scoop for many more years to come.