My Journey to NSA
By Zoe B.
Study by kazoka30 from Getty Images Created in Canva
If you had told me 6 years ago I would be doing online school, I probably would have looked at you and laughed. The idea was so surreal in my head that I would have recommended you go to some sort of psychiatrist. Yet here I am, in my third year here at NSA, planning on graduating next year!
My NSA story is probably a little different than those of other students. That is because I am not from the United States, a missionary kid, or a TCK (third culture kid). I was born and raised in Argentina, and up until Middle School, I was one of the most normal kids you could meet. I went to an in-person school every day from nine to four and then spent every single afternoon at a club playing all different sorts of sports. This included tennis, swimming, gymnastics, field hockey, and more. Then I would go home, get my homework done, go to sleep, and repeat it all over again. I loved my life.
However, in the middle of my 6th grade year, COVID hit, and like the rest of the world, we were locked at home for over six months. During this time, our school switched everything to online, and I was thriving. I would get my school done before noon and have the rest of my day left to do whatever it is I wanted to, including exercise, read, and more. However, once the middle of 7th grade came around and we switched back to in-person school, everything went back to normal.
It was around this time that I started playing tennis competitively. This meant training for at least two hours every weekday and traveling around the country to compete in tournaments. Balancing in-person school with my schedule was getting difficult, considering I had to leave school early every day to get to training on time. I followed this schedule for a year and a half until I finished 8th grade, where I knew I wanted a change. I was keeping up great in terms of grades, but the arrangement was not something sustainable. My parents and I searched for online schools for my siblings and me, and we found NorthStar.
Enrolling here was partly a leap of faith. We hoped everything would turn out all right. That leap of faith turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. While I do miss being in an actual classroom and the interaction that came from that, the benefits from NSA outweigh this significantly. Here, I have taken many challenging classes that have allowed me to maintain a high GPA and prepare accordingly for college in the US. I have been able to dedicate a lot of time towards my sport, including practice and tournament time, while managing my schedule and still staying on track with my studies due to NSA’s flexibility. However, neither of these is the main thing I’m grateful for about NSA. Instead, it is the community. NSA is a Christian school, but this is not reflected only in the coursework; it is the people who shocked me the most. Everyone, from staff members to teachers to students, is great and willing to help no matter what. I have made some of, if not my greatest, friends through NSA, and this is something that I will cherish all my life.
My journey to NSA has not been the most conventional. Online school is not for everyone. However, I believe that my arrival here has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. I would not trade the knowledge I have gained, the time I have saved, the time management I have learned, the leadership skills I have acquired, the lifelong relationships I have made, and most importantly, the things I have learned about Christ and the way in which they have brought me closer to the Lord, for anything else in the world. I believe the Lord brought me here for a reason, and it has been beautiful seeing all the fruits that have come from it.
Columns:👤NSA People, 🗞️Staff Stories
Zoe B. lives in Argentina with her parents, dog, and one of two brothers. She is an eleventh grader, and this is her third year at NorthStar but first in the Navigator. In addition to being a writer for the Navigator, she is also one of two Club Coordinators for Student Council and a tutor for High School students. She has been playing sports all her life and is currently a competitive tennis player who dedicates a lot of hours to training and competing around South America.