You can describe me with the 4 F’s and two P’s. Faith, Family, Flag, Freedom, Protection, and Procrastination. I know, it's an underwhelming end to such a virtuous list. You may know me as the funny guy in that obscure school newspaper. You may be saying “that man is cringe” or something similar. You might even know me as the guy who was active on Teams a year ago then disappeared forever. In the case of the latter, I don’t know why you still remember me, my greatest contribution to NSA was participating in a meme war. But whether I’m remembered as King Cringe or the Chick-fil-A guy, I am leaving…for good, I’m never coming back.
Read MoreFor 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.
Read MoreThis is an allegorical story of growing up, moving from childhood to adulthood, and being a senior. The piece is inspired by John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim Progress.” This is part of my NSA Story.
Read MoreOver the years, my school life/situation has encountered many changes. Maybe my school situation had to change more than the average person’s, but maybe not. Whatever it is, I think it’s been great that my life has changed so much and given me some odd experiences.
Read MoreThis year has been my first year writing for the Navigator. I’ll be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect before I decided to join. Since I didn’t know exactly what to expect, I decided not to join last year, and now I regret not joining sooner. My goal with this article is to make sure others who are hesitant to join don’t make the same mistake I did. In this article, I will tell the story of how I decided to join the Navigator, and what my experience has been like. I will also provide information about how you can experience a Navigator live session in person.
Read MoreWell, I guess I made it. We are coming very close to the end of the school year, and to the end of a very significant stage of my life. With the chaos of life and schoolwork, I’m not sure if I’ve actually taken a moment to really take a breath and consider that fact. High school has been a wild ride. Was it at all like High School Musical? No, but that’s probably for the best.
Read MoreAs a teacher, I should be excited as we come to the beginning of June–cheering for the seniors who have completed their high school journey. But this year, that celebration is mixed with a bit of reserve.
Read MoreI’m not gonna lie. It took me a while to get started on this article. Usually, when it’s time to start working on our new publication, I excitedly start looking for people to interview or documents to read. But for this article, I had no one to interview, nor any reason to lurk around Teams for Word docs. I had to write about myself.
Read MoreMy journey, or might I say, voyage, has been a highlight of my time at NSA. The NSS Navigator has been a good ship, seaworthy, and hasn’t let me down. It can support its weight, it leaks at times, cracks form, but if you keep a cool head, it's nothing you can’t overcome. Thankfully, my fellow crewmates are the best in the business. We set out from Port North with a goal, to deliver news to the four corners of NorthStar, and I think we’ve done that. However, the voyage is nearly at its end.
Read MoreAll year long, students get to read the fabulous articles that the Navigator Staff writes every publication. However, rarely do you get to see the real people behind the black-colored pixel letters on your screen. This has been especially true for me. As the Editor-in-Chief for the Navigator, my main job is to publish the articles and update the website. As a result, you don’t get to see me pop up here very often. However, for this article, I want to explain how much NorthStar means to me.
Read MoreHigh school has been the best years of my life. Don’t get me wrong, it’s also been the most stressful years of my life, but the best years, nonetheless. As my high school journey comes to a close and I get ready to finish the last chapter of my NSA story, which I’ve creatively titled Senior Year, I’ve felt so thankful. Has NSA made me want to scream and cry and rip my hair out from time to time? Yes. Have I cried consistently during every math class I’ve taken here? Also, yes. But I wouldn’t be who I am today if it had not been for NSA.
Read MoreBorn and raised in South Africa and homeschooling since the age of five, I’ve had an interesting journey to arriving at the virtual school gates of NorthStar Academy. As mentioned, I’ve been homeschooled since the age of five, which means that my mother has not only taught me how to write and read, but to really fall in love with learning and escape to the magical world of books.
Read MoreMy name is Ian King, and I am one of the writers behind many of the articles that you have seen on the Navigator website. I am a graduating senior and will be leaving NorthStar Academy for Liberty University. My experience with NSA has been one that is all too common among high school students: a busy yet productive life perpetuated with academic responsibilities and the strenuous adjustment to each year’s new needs. However, I don’t want to lament the demanding years that defined my high school experience; rather, I want to be thankful for the challenges that necessitated the person I became through it.
Read MoreThe NorthStar Navigator is only the newspaper it is today because of Mrs. Meyer - our hilarious, generous, huge-hearted teacher advisor! As a staff, we want to make sure she knows how loved she is, and that you all know how hard she works! So without further ado, here is why we love Mrs. Meyer!
Read MoreThe staff of the NorthStar Navigator write articles on other students, teachers, events, and clubs around NSA all year long. Naturally, as readers, none of you get to really know them through what they write. To help solve that problem, I’m here to divulge the New Year’s resolutions of the Navigator staff.
Read MoreIf I were to summarize my NSA story in a single word, I’d like to consider my experience as extraordinary. Homeschooling, or what I would later come to recognize as virtual learning, was something my family had become familiar with years before enrolling at NorthStar. When I was approaching my first day of second grade, our local public schools had given my parents no other option but to consider online schooling due to medical reasons. This led to me being enrolled in another online school for many years. Similarly to NSA, their teachers and students were based around the globe. Looking back, these teachers would serve as my early mentors, which I feel strongly contributed to my interest in writing.
Read MoreThis article is not going to be strictly about how I came to NorthStar Academy, mainly because the reason I’m here doesn’t make for a very exciting article. So let us put it briefly:
My dad was looking for an accredited way to homeschool so that my sister could go to the Naval Academy. While searching for schools, he saw that a NorthStar graduate had gone on to the Naval Academy. He looked into NSA, liked it, and signed my sister up. Pretty soon I followed with a couple of courses and then my younger sister got some courses, and soon we were near full-time students.
Read MoreI’ve written for the Navigator for three years. I started during my sophomore year, in 2018. Back then, it was all done on First Class. I submitted my articles and pictures to the editors each month. Every writer was able to choose their own topic, and then write articles on it. The newspaper was completely student-run. However, that began to change in 2019. By the start of my junior year, the Navigator had become an NSA class with a teacher advisor.
Read MoreI wanted to share myself with NSA. My real self. Not the “ahhhhh xd xd bahahhah” texting Izzy. I wanted to share the actual face behind those quirky, cute messages. The broken, sometimes sad, thoughtful Izzy that loves her dog like crazy and is really passionate about life. I loved writing. I love making blogs. Everything seemed simple. I started a Blogspot blog and began writing. I made an introduction and shared that introduction with the Student Body.
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