Turned Towards a Brighter Future
By Alexander M.
Golden Compass Concept by Getty Images (XtockImages) Created in Canva
Hello everyone. My name is Alexander. My family chose to enroll me in NorthStar Academy for three reasons. The first reason why I joined NSA was that my parents wanted me to go to an accredited high school, which helps with getting into college. The second reason I joined NSA was that my mom and dad wanted me to go to a Christian school like NSA. The last reason I joined NSA was that my parents liked the curriculum that NSA uses.
I have always been homeschooled, and I have never been into sports. Therefore, I have always been more of a homebody that loves video games, television, board games, and books, which would make me seem like an introvert. However, I really care about spending time with others, so I classify myself as “an extrovert that likes introverted activities.” Because of this, I was excited when I joined NSA because I knew that I could do my schooling from my house and not worry about driving to any homeschool co-ops, which I did for many years.
I joined NSA in the fall semester of 2022 as a freshman, which was not the ideal time I would have joined NSA for one main reason. While highschool is already more difficult than middle school, the strangeness and difficulty of online schooling at NSA amplified this difficulty. Regardless, my parents and my sister helped me get through the initial difficulties of NSA. However, I stayed isolated, and I only talked to a couple of students my entire first semester of NSA. This radically changed however in the spring semester of 2023, when the NSA Minecraft Esports Team was created.
I have always loved Minecraft since I was little, and I was luckily able to join the NSA Minecraft Esports Team despite having almost no experience playing Minecraft on a computer. Through this team, I was introduced to some of my best friends here at NSA as well as the Minecraft group, which allowed my experience at NSA to really bloom. Once I realized that there were not many planned group activities in the Minecraft group, I decided to work with my friends to create a weekly meeting Minecraft server. I helped lead this server throughout my second semester at NSA and the following summer. However, my NSA story took another great turn when April Meyer, who used to be my English teacher in the ENGL100 course, asked if I would be interested in working at The NorthStar Navigator.
I have never really enjoyed writing, and I was nervous about joining a newspaper where I would be writing all the time. However, the Navigator has made it so that I find joy in my writing, and I have had an excellent experience at the Navigator. While working at the Navigator, I have learned a lot about teamwork and maintaining a schedule that I hope to use in my future occupations. Due to my inexperience and nervousness, I have only been a journalist for the Navigator rather than having another position in addition to writing, such as being an editor. However, after getting used to the Navigator, I now want to work towards helping the Navigator even more, which has led me to decide to be the assistant editor-in-chief at the Navigator starting the fall semester of 2024.
I have two words of advice for anyone that was isolated like I was when I joined NSA. First, do not stick entirely to your comfort zone, since that can lead to you not experiencing what the world has to offer. This does not have to be a full-on jump, but instead just look to the edges of your comfort zone and see if there is anything that is partially connected to your interests. Those things are the ones that you will want to go for, since they are at least partially involved with what you enjoy. My second piece of advice is that, while some people do enjoy being isolated, isolation is not what humans were created for. In the same way that Eve was created so that Adam would not be alone in Genesis 2-3, we must work to surround ourselves with friends to encourage us, since that can radically change your experience in any situation whether it be a new school, job, or city.
In summary, my NSA story has been shaped by lots of twists and turns. However, rather than confusing me, these turns have oriented me towards an entirely new direction that I am excited to follow in the future. Thanks to everyone that has guided me along the way. I feel like my future has turned out much better than before I came to NSA, which is a great blessing in my life.
Columns: 👤NSA People 🗞️Staff Stories
Alexander M. lives in Georgia, USA, with his parents and younger sister. He has been a student at NorthStar for a year and is just starting to write for the Navigator. He likes to play Minecraft with his friends and plays for the different esports teams here at NorthStar Academy.