Well, 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.

I’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.

My 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.

All 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.

High 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.

Born 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.

My 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.