September 17, 2024 • 18 mins
Can an online school truly foster deep, meaningful connections? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Tiana and Nathan, two of NSA's Student Council, as they share their inspiring journey of building a welcoming online community. Drawing from their rich experiences in England and the Middle East, they unveil innovative strategies like hosting virtual calls and assigning committee members to virtual school buildings on Microsoft Teams. This episode is a treasure trove of insights into how they’ve successfully created an engaging environment that nurtures lasting friendships and valuable leadership opportunities.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, this is Stephanie Schaefer and you're listening
to the North Star Narrative, apodcast from North Star Academy.
I want to thank you for joiningus.
I hope you're encouraged,challenged and motivated by what
you learned today.
Enjoy the story.
Hey everybody, thanks so muchfor joining us for this episode
today.
I'm always extra excited whenwe have North Star students on
(00:27):
the show, and so I can't waitfor you to hear from Tiana and
Nathan, who are students atNorth Star Academy and on our
student council as welcomecommittee leaders this year.
So I want you to get to knowtheir hearts, hear a little bit
about their experience andunderstand what we have here at
(00:48):
North Star for our community,our social life, all the kinds
of different opportunities forstudents to get involved.
They're going to tell you aboutthat and they just really have
a heart for the Lord andbuilding community and making
sure students are welcome.
So I'm so thankful, tiana andNathan, that you would join me
for a few minutes today.
Hi, it's great to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah, definitely looking forward to getting to
share a little bit with people.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yay Again, I'm so thankful for both of you and
that you are just really pouringin to students here and that
you are just really pouring into students here, and these two
students have a lot ofinnovation and learning that
they do, and so that's part ofour core values here at North
Star.
They've been thinking about howthey can make the welcome
(01:37):
committee better and strongerand gather volunteers, so I
really really appreciate thatabout them today.
All right, so let's start withyou, deanna.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself, where you live, how
long you've been at Northstarand maybe one of your favorite
things about being a studentonline.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
So I kind of live everywhere currently in England
and I have been at Northstar.
This will be my fourth year.
I like that we can buildcommunities with people all over
the world and that moststudents don't really care how
old you are, what grade you'rein, they're just so welcoming to
everybody.
(02:16):
Yeah, that's one of my favoritethings about it.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, I love that too .
What about you, Nathan?
Where are you living right now?
How long have you been here?
What do you love about NorthStar?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I'm currently in the Middle East.
This is my third year andprobably my favorite thing about
NSA specifically would be again, yeah, community, just the
friends I've made.
Friends you can make, as Tianasaid, it doesn't really matter
what age, what grade, where youare in the world.
You still can make friends andI think that's the best part.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, I love those two things, that both of you are
in different parts of the world.
So all three of us I'm inMississippi in the US, and this
is what it's like to be atNorthstar a lot.
So you get on a Zoom call, aTeams call, and you've got
students on all differentcontinents and from different
areas.
So I love the global experiencewe get to have because we're
(03:10):
learning from each other, right,everybody's in a different
culture, different place, and sowe can ask questions.
So that's one thing that's sogreat about the community.
And then I love that both ofyou want to build the community,
so so thankful and grateful fory'all.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe welcome committee.
What is that at Northstar andwhat is your goal this year?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
The welcome committee basically just welcomes all the
new students at NSA and we'lllike host different calls, be
sort of everywhere in all thebuildings just to make it a
really warm and just like funand safe environment for all the
students goal, wise like ourconstant theme so far already
has just been the community.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
We really want to just build the community up and
make it not only a welcomingplace but a constant place where
students can be and interactwith other students and find
friends, like not just have a hiwelcome to NSA and then fall
off the face of the earth, butrather be able to say hi,
(04:13):
welcome and then go into afriendship of some sort somehow
or some way.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
I like that so much.
So tell me more about some waysthat you are really innovating
and making it more welcomingthis year.
What can students expect?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, we are trying to host a lot more different
calls and we, instead of havingevery member in all the
buildings, we've dedicateddifferent members to each
building and they're going toreally be working on hosting
different calls.
They're just getting to knoweach student and befriend a lot
of them and, yeah, that's mostlywhat we're trying to do just
(04:52):
have more calls and more funwith everyone something I would
add to that is we also arehoping, like we said, we have
specific people in specificbuildings.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
We we're also giving some students in those buildings
their own dose of leadership.
So another thing we're doingwith the Welcome Committee is
also not only welcoming otherpeople, but also trying to build
a community within the WelcomeCommittee and let some people
learn their own leadershipskills as well.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, love that.
We're going to come back toleadership in a moment.
But I want people that are notinvolved in North Star or maybe
are, but don't really understandthe similarities that we have
to brick and mortar school.
So we have school buildingsjust like a brick and mortar
would have an elementary, amiddle, a high school, right,
and you're like what People arelistening.
(05:44):
How do you have a schoolbuilding online?
But tell us a little bit aboutwhat that looks like and how you
move through, maybe thebuildings each day, or maybe
like how you're going to use thebuildings to interact and build
the community.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, in Microsoft Teams we have different
buildings and each building hasdifferent channels, and
something that I like to doevery day is check out the Hi my
Name Is channel and see all thenew students or the returning
students and just get to knowthem a little bit, reach out to
them, sometimes in their privatemessages as well.
(06:19):
I also like to check thecourtyard, which is where we all
just hang out, ask differentquestions and have fun, and I
think also, as a welcomecommittee leader, something I'm
going to try to do more of islook at more of the new students
and connect with them in thecourtyard as well.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, probably my funnest thing to do, especially
the different buildings, is justgo to the courtyard and hang
out.
Like you can just go in thereand hang out with people for
about half an hour at least.
Um, just talking to people.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, that's cool.
Okay, I have an idea.
Let's take 10 seconds and justthrow out everything we can
think of that North star has forcommunity, like the different
channels, differentopportunities, different things
Ready.
Okay, get your minds ready witha few things, throw out
anything, anything andeverything.
(07:12):
I can start, let's see if wecan have no pauses for 10
seconds.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I need to stop watching, so we can just talk
over each other, which sometimeshappens in meetings right At.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Northstar, that's fine.
This is true, yes, fine, okay,so we can just talk over each
other, which sometimes happensin meetings right at Northstar.
That's fine.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
This is true, yes.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Fine, okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Portyard Spiritual emphasis week C Calls that last
for hours, even after theofficial thing is finished.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Study hall Chapel Graduation Back to school bash.
Summer celebrations, christmasparties and those Christmas-like
music times that last for 24hours, virtual worship nights,
dances, yeah, okay, let's talkabout leadership a little bit,
(08:02):
because on student council andas a welcome committee leader,
you learn about leadership rightBecause you're gathering
volunteers and you're givingthem energy and giving them
things to do and motivating them, and sometimes leadership can
be so fun, sometimes leadershipcan be so hard and challenging,
so I want to talk about both.
So, if you think aboutleadership, what pops in your
mind that is lots of fun and whyyou choose to be in leadership
(08:25):
at Northstar.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
One thing that I really enjoy about leadership is
getting to do it with otherpeople.
So last year as the middleschool rep, I did it with my
best friend, and this year I'mdoing it with another of my best
friends as a welcome committeeleader, and I really love
working with people.
I know that's one thing Ireally love about it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, I love that collaboration.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I like the responsibility and the ability
to do something new, somethingthat hasn't been done before, or
bring back something old that Ithink needs to come back.
Leading is just something I'vedone for a while and I think
it's a fun thing to do, so Iguess you could call it a hobby
in a way.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah, that's good.
I love it.
You are constantly learning andtrying new things.
All right, we know it's tough.
We've had conversations allthree of us about how tough it
is.
What's something?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
that's really hard and how are you working to
understand or overcome it?
I think something that's reallyhard is the vulnerability of it
.
Sometimes I remember last yearI wasn't always treated very
well and, yeah, just being sovulnerable and out there and
standing for what is right, evenif other people put you down
about it, that is really tough,and what I've learned through
that is to not take it so hard,um, and also just remember who
(09:47):
I'm doing this for.
I'm not doing this for, um,necessarily everybody else, but
I'm also doing it for God.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
so, yeah, that's something that helps me through
it probably my biggest challengeis, like I said, I've led a lot
of things, but but it feelslike the more I lead, the larger
the responsibility it gets, andit's just like how there's no
way I can actually do this.
So for me it's really just achallenge of okay, I'm here, I'm
(10:15):
doing it, but how am I doing it?
Am I doing it correctly?
It's just an internal struggleof like am I a good leader or am
I doing it correctly?
It's just an internal struggleof like am I a good leader or am
I?
Am I just doing terrible?
That's, it's a self-criticism.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, we struggle with that as leaders, I'm sure,
but you have people around you.
Hopefully you feel at Northstarthat'll give you really good
feedback, honest feedback andyeah, I think you're doing a
great job both of you, becauseyou're just all in and you're
open to that feedback.
(10:49):
And yeah, really fun to watchall grow.
Love that about students atNorth Star because our students
are just out there and pursuingso many different things and
avenues and learning, so it'ssuper fun to watch students grow
all these years being here.
What advice would you give tonew students who might be
(11:09):
nervous or unsure about startingat Northstar?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I would say getting into the community, whether that
be putting yourself out therein the courtyard or just
messaging someone randomly LikeI'm pretty sure I had today
someone randomly message,messaged me and just be like hi.
I was like hello.
And then later on I was likehow did you what?
Where did this come from?
And it's like, yeah, that'sdude, go for it.
(11:34):
It's.
It's a great way to findfriends, it's a great way to
make a good friend or any friendreally.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, like what he said just being out there, and
don't be afraid to reach out tosomeone that you see around.
I'm pretty sure the way Nathanand I knew each other was one of
those awkward high messages.
So you really do get blessedout of it.
So don't be afraid to do it.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
That's good.
I know, Nathan, you shared thatyou want it to be meaningful
for students and not just aquick message and then never,
you know, talk to someone again.
So how are you going to ensurethat the welcome committee makes
sure that each studentexperiences a personal,
meaningful introduction to NorthStar and just experience?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
A way that we did that was before we just had
anyone volunteer.
We specifically went lookingfor people that we knew were
active.
We knew they would be active onTeams and we know we can trust
them to not just leave a personon read.
We know we can trust them toactually engage in a
(12:39):
conversation with them For someperiod of time.
Not everyone can be on Teamsfor hours and hours and hours.
Of course there are such thingscalled time limits, but even so
, we know that the people wechose to join Welcome Committee
aren't just going to leavepeople hanging and that they can
message them freely and get aresponse in return.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, and keep asking questions or return yeah, and
like keep asking questions orjust going back to be like hey,
how are you doing?
And checking in on them, don'tjust like I've sent my message
I'm done sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
All right, Nathan.
Community you tell me thatcommunity affects people, that
that's something you've learnedalong your journey so far.
Um, what do you mean by that?
Can you tell us more?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
I'll give an example from my own life.
So I remember when I firstjoined NSA, I had this shell
metaphorical shell, not literalthat I would I'm not really
social, I wouldn't say I'mantisocial, I just don't really
end up going up to someone andtalking to them, um, but
(13:47):
probably the best thing that nsahas done for me is crack that
shell wide open.
And it's not a doing of oneindividual person, really, it's
just the doing of so many people.
It again the community.
After you actually startgetting involved, even if you're
, let's say, you're not social,okay, give it a chance.
(14:10):
Ask someone something, getinvolved and you might not get
your shell cracked, but you atleast have a good time.
And for me, the communityreally did just make me more
open to talking with people,open to putting myself out there
, open to leading even to that,like I want to give back to the
(14:34):
community how the community gaveto me.
So really it's just like that'sone personal story.
There are a million others thatyou could probably find out
there, but yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I'm so thankful your shell was cracked wide open.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Good analogy.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So good, all right, tiana, you said that you are
really passionate about sharingJesus through student council,
which you've been on for a while, but also film and performing
arts, which you're passionateabout.
Tell us a little bit more aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I grew up in a family and we're all sort of in that
industry and that is somethingthat my dad does and something
that I think I'll go into.
That my dad does and somethingthat I think I'll go into and
how I love to just share Jesusthrough film is.
It's not necessarily aChristian film, but it's sort of
like, sort of like how CS Lewisdid it.
You have some aspects ofChristianity in it and when
(15:35):
someone is watching that movieor that performance, that
musical, they're just like therereally is a God somewhere that
does love me and it's just likea realization of that.
So, yeah, that's like how Iwould do it.
And yeah, I think, coming froma family where my parents
weren't Christian their wholelives, and hearing their story
(15:57):
and having family members thataren't saved, it's just really
my heart cry to be like I wantyou to know Jesus and, yeah, be
in heaven with me.
Yeah, so something that I'vealways just wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, you have a cool , cool family, Lots of things
you're getting to experience,moving all around both of y'all,
so I love that.
Can you give us a sneak peekinto any upcoming initiatives or
events the Welcome Committee isplanning or other events you
know student council is planningwhere students can really get
involved?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
We have revamped newbies mixers.
We have revamped newbies mixers.
So if you are in high school ormiddle school, look out for
calls that are called discohangouts and we will be having
some fun on the virtual discofloor.
We may be jamming to music,playing games and just hanging
out getting to know each other.
(16:51):
And if you're in elementaryschool, we're going to be having
some wild hangouts where wewill also be playing some games.
So, yeah, those are two thingsyou can look forward to.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Going back to the high school disco hangouts,
there may or may not be somesort of lore connection at some
point with a couple differentthings from NSA, and if you're
not aware of NSA's lore,definitely look for the wiki.
Somehow in NSA that's a greatway to get involved in the chaos
as well.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, well, we mentioned some events and just
check your messages.
Make sure you're looking at thelanding page when you log in
and checking teams.
There's always conversations toget into or announcements.
Don't forget about the NSAConnects if you're a high school
student, because you can meet alot of students there and a lot
of really cool people.
I've got a director's cornercoming up.
(17:43):
I do those a couple of times soyou can just ask me any
questions you want Interview me,all right, so you've met two
students If you're new to NorthStar, you're thinking about it
Nathan Rexroth and Tiana Dean,so you can look them up, message
them, be brave and do that andget to know them more, ask them
(18:03):
a question that you didn't getanswered here and just how you
can get involved.
So lots of students.
If someone reaches out to you,make sure you reach back and
build that relationship.
Thanks again, tiana and Nathan,for just leading out this year
in the welcome committee, comingon here and sharing.
I'm super, super thankful forboth of you.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Yeah, it's been really fun.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Thank you so much for listening today.
If you have any questions forour guest or would like
information about Northstar,please email us.
At podcast at nsaschool, welove having guests on our show
and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature, please emailus and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
(18:55):
upcoming stories.
Hi, this is Stephanie Schaefer and you're listening
to the North Star Narrative, apodcast from North Star Academy.
I want to thank you for joiningus.
I hope you're encouraged,challenged and motivated by what
you learned today.
Enjoy the story.
Hey everybody, thanks so muchfor joining us for this episode
today.
I'm always extra excited whenwe have North Star students on
(00:27):
the show, and so I can't waitfor you to hear from Tiana and
Nathan, who are students atNorth Star Academy and on our
student council as welcomecommittee leaders this year.
So I want you to get to knowtheir hearts, hear a little bit
about their experience andunderstand what we have here at
(00:48):
North Star for our community,our social life, all the kinds
of different opportunities forstudents to get involved.
They're going to tell you aboutthat and they just really have
a heart for the Lord andbuilding community and making
sure students are welcome.
So I'm so thankful, tiana andNathan, that you would join me
for a few minutes today.
Hi, it's great to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah, definitely looking forward to getting to
share a little bit with people.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yay Again, I'm so thankful for both of you and
that you are just really pouringin to students here and that
you are just really pouring into students here, and these two
students have a lot ofinnovation and learning that
they do, and so that's part ofour core values here at North
Star.
They've been thinking about howthey can make the welcome
(01:37):
committee better and strongerand gather volunteers, so I
really really appreciate thatabout them today.
All right, so let's start withyou, deanna.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself, where you live, how
long you've been at Northstarand maybe one of your favorite
things about being a studentonline.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
So I kind of live everywhere currently in England
and I have been at Northstar.
This will be my fourth year.
I like that we can buildcommunities with people all over
the world and that moststudents don't really care how
old you are, what grade you'rein, they're just so welcoming to
everybody.
(02:16):
Yeah, that's one of my favoritethings about it.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, I love that too .
What about you, Nathan?
Where are you living right now?
How long have you been here?
What do you love about NorthStar?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I'm currently in the Middle East.
This is my third year andprobably my favorite thing about
NSA specifically would be again, yeah, community, just the
friends I've made.
Friends you can make, as Tianasaid, it doesn't really matter
what age, what grade, where youare in the world.
You still can make friends andI think that's the best part.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, I love those two things, that both of you are
in different parts of the world.
So all three of us I'm inMississippi in the US, and this
is what it's like to be atNorthstar a lot.
So you get on a Zoom call, aTeams call, and you've got
students on all differentcontinents and from different
areas.
So I love the global experiencewe get to have because we're
(03:10):
learning from each other, right,everybody's in a different
culture, different place, and sowe can ask questions.
So that's one thing that's sogreat about the community.
And then I love that both ofyou want to build the community,
so so thankful and grateful fory'all.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe welcome committee.
What is that at Northstar andwhat is your goal this year?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
The welcome committee basically just welcomes all the
new students at NSA and we'lllike host different calls, be
sort of everywhere in all thebuildings just to make it a
really warm and just like funand safe environment for all the
students goal, wise like ourconstant theme so far already
has just been the community.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
We really want to just build the community up and
make it not only a welcomingplace but a constant place where
students can be and interactwith other students and find
friends, like not just have a hiwelcome to NSA and then fall
off the face of the earth, butrather be able to say hi,
(04:13):
welcome and then go into afriendship of some sort somehow
or some way.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
I like that so much.
So tell me more about some waysthat you are really innovating
and making it more welcomingthis year.
What can students expect?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, we are trying to host a lot more different
calls and we, instead of havingevery member in all the
buildings, we've dedicateddifferent members to each
building and they're going toreally be working on hosting
different calls.
They're just getting to knoweach student and befriend a lot
of them and, yeah, that's mostlywhat we're trying to do just
(04:52):
have more calls and more funwith everyone something I would
add to that is we also arehoping, like we said, we have
specific people in specificbuildings.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
We we're also giving some students in those buildings
their own dose of leadership.
So another thing we're doingwith the Welcome Committee is
also not only welcoming otherpeople, but also trying to build
a community within the WelcomeCommittee and let some people
learn their own leadershipskills as well.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, love that.
We're going to come back toleadership in a moment.
But I want people that are notinvolved in North Star or maybe
are, but don't really understandthe similarities that we have
to brick and mortar school.
So we have school buildingsjust like a brick and mortar
would have an elementary, amiddle, a high school, right,
and you're like what People arelistening.
(05:44):
How do you have a schoolbuilding online?
But tell us a little bit aboutwhat that looks like and how you
move through, maybe thebuildings each day, or maybe
like how you're going to use thebuildings to interact and build
the community.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, in Microsoft Teams we have different
buildings and each building hasdifferent channels, and
something that I like to doevery day is check out the Hi my
Name Is channel and see all thenew students or the returning
students and just get to knowthem a little bit, reach out to
them, sometimes in their privatemessages as well.
(06:19):
I also like to check thecourtyard, which is where we all
just hang out, ask differentquestions and have fun, and I
think also, as a welcomecommittee leader, something I'm
going to try to do more of islook at more of the new students
and connect with them in thecourtyard as well.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, probably my funnest thing to do, especially
the different buildings, is justgo to the courtyard and hang
out.
Like you can just go in thereand hang out with people for
about half an hour at least.
Um, just talking to people.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, that's cool.
Okay, I have an idea.
Let's take 10 seconds and justthrow out everything we can
think of that North star has forcommunity, like the different
channels, differentopportunities, different things
Ready.
Okay, get your minds ready witha few things, throw out
anything, anything andeverything.
(07:12):
I can start, let's see if wecan have no pauses for 10
seconds.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I need to stop watching, so we can just talk
over each other, which sometimeshappens in meetings right At.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Northstar, that's fine.
This is true, yes, fine, okay,so we can just talk over each
other, which sometimes happensin meetings right at Northstar.
That's fine.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
This is true, yes.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Fine, okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Portyard Spiritual emphasis week C Calls that last
for hours, even after theofficial thing is finished.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Study hall Chapel Graduation Back to school bash.
Summer celebrations, christmasparties and those Christmas-like
music times that last for 24hours, virtual worship nights,
dances, yeah, okay, let's talkabout leadership a little bit,
(08:02):
because on student council andas a welcome committee leader,
you learn about leadership rightBecause you're gathering
volunteers and you're givingthem energy and giving them
things to do and motivating them, and sometimes leadership can
be so fun, sometimes leadershipcan be so hard and challenging,
so I want to talk about both.
So, if you think aboutleadership, what pops in your
mind that is lots of fun and whyyou choose to be in leadership
(08:25):
at Northstar.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
One thing that I really enjoy about leadership is
getting to do it with otherpeople.
So last year as the middleschool rep, I did it with my
best friend, and this year I'mdoing it with another of my best
friends as a welcome committeeleader, and I really love
working with people.
I know that's one thing Ireally love about it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, I love that collaboration.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I like the responsibility and the ability
to do something new, somethingthat hasn't been done before, or
bring back something old that Ithink needs to come back.
Leading is just something I'vedone for a while and I think
it's a fun thing to do, so Iguess you could call it a hobby
in a way.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah, that's good.
I love it.
You are constantly learning andtrying new things.
All right, we know it's tough.
We've had conversations allthree of us about how tough it
is.
What's something?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
that's really hard and how are you working to
understand or overcome it?
I think something that's reallyhard is the vulnerability of it
.
Sometimes I remember last yearI wasn't always treated very
well and, yeah, just being sovulnerable and out there and
standing for what is right, evenif other people put you down
about it, that is really tough,and what I've learned through
that is to not take it so hard,um, and also just remember who
(09:47):
I'm doing this for.
I'm not doing this for, um,necessarily everybody else, but
I'm also doing it for God.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
so, yeah, that's something that helps me through
it probably my biggest challengeis, like I said, I've led a lot
of things, but but it feelslike the more I lead, the larger
the responsibility it gets, andit's just like how there's no
way I can actually do this.
So for me it's really just achallenge of okay, I'm here, I'm
(10:15):
doing it, but how am I doing it?
Am I doing it correctly?
It's just an internal struggleof like am I a good leader or am
I doing it correctly?
It's just an internal struggleof like am I a good leader or am
I?
Am I just doing terrible?
That's, it's a self-criticism.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, we struggle with that as leaders, I'm sure,
but you have people around you.
Hopefully you feel at Northstarthat'll give you really good
feedback, honest feedback andyeah, I think you're doing a
great job both of you, becauseyou're just all in and you're
open to that feedback.
(10:49):
And yeah, really fun to watchall grow.
Love that about students atNorth Star because our students
are just out there and pursuingso many different things and
avenues and learning, so it'ssuper fun to watch students grow
all these years being here.
What advice would you give tonew students who might be
(11:09):
nervous or unsure about startingat Northstar?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I would say getting into the community, whether that
be putting yourself out therein the courtyard or just
messaging someone randomly LikeI'm pretty sure I had today
someone randomly message,messaged me and just be like hi.
I was like hello.
And then later on I was likehow did you what?
Where did this come from?
And it's like, yeah, that'sdude, go for it.
(11:34):
It's.
It's a great way to findfriends, it's a great way to
make a good friend or any friendreally.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, like what he said just being out there, and
don't be afraid to reach out tosomeone that you see around.
I'm pretty sure the way Nathanand I knew each other was one of
those awkward high messages.
So you really do get blessedout of it.
So don't be afraid to do it.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
That's good.
I know, Nathan, you shared thatyou want it to be meaningful
for students and not just aquick message and then never,
you know, talk to someone again.
So how are you going to ensurethat the welcome committee makes
sure that each studentexperiences a personal,
meaningful introduction to NorthStar and just experience?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
A way that we did that was before we just had
anyone volunteer.
We specifically went lookingfor people that we knew were
active.
We knew they would be active onTeams and we know we can trust
them to not just leave a personon read.
We know we can trust them toactually engage in a
(12:39):
conversation with them For someperiod of time.
Not everyone can be on Teamsfor hours and hours and hours.
Of course there are such thingscalled time limits, but even so
, we know that the people wechose to join Welcome Committee
aren't just going to leavepeople hanging and that they can
message them freely and get aresponse in return.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, and keep asking questions or return yeah, and
like keep asking questions orjust going back to be like hey,
how are you doing?
And checking in on them, don'tjust like I've sent my message
I'm done sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
All right, Nathan.
Community you tell me thatcommunity affects people, that
that's something you've learnedalong your journey so far.
Um, what do you mean by that?
Can you tell us more?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
I'll give an example from my own life.
So I remember when I firstjoined NSA, I had this shell
metaphorical shell, not literalthat I would I'm not really
social, I wouldn't say I'mantisocial, I just don't really
end up going up to someone andtalking to them, um, but
(13:47):
probably the best thing that nsahas done for me is crack that
shell wide open.
And it's not a doing of oneindividual person, really, it's
just the doing of so many people.
It again the community.
After you actually startgetting involved, even if you're
, let's say, you're not social,okay, give it a chance.
(14:10):
Ask someone something, getinvolved and you might not get
your shell cracked, but you atleast have a good time.
And for me, the communityreally did just make me more
open to talking with people,open to putting myself out there
, open to leading even to that,like I want to give back to the
(14:34):
community how the community gaveto me.
So really it's just like that'sone personal story.
There are a million others thatyou could probably find out
there, but yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I'm so thankful your shell was cracked wide open.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Good analogy.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So good, all right, tiana, you said that you are
really passionate about sharingJesus through student council,
which you've been on for a while, but also film and performing
arts, which you're passionateabout.
Tell us a little bit more aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I grew up in a family and we're all sort of in that
industry and that is somethingthat my dad does and something
that I think I'll go into.
That my dad does and somethingthat I think I'll go into and
how I love to just share Jesusthrough film is.
It's not necessarily aChristian film, but it's sort of
like, sort of like how CS Lewisdid it.
You have some aspects ofChristianity in it and when
(15:35):
someone is watching that movieor that performance, that
musical, they're just like therereally is a God somewhere that
does love me and it's just likea realization of that.
So, yeah, that's like how Iwould do it.
And yeah, I think, coming froma family where my parents
weren't Christian their wholelives, and hearing their story
(15:57):
and having family members thataren't saved, it's just really
my heart cry to be like I wantyou to know Jesus and, yeah, be
in heaven with me.
Yeah, so something that I'vealways just wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, you have a cool , cool family, Lots of things
you're getting to experience,moving all around both of y'all,
so I love that.
Can you give us a sneak peekinto any upcoming initiatives or
events the Welcome Committee isplanning or other events you
know student council is planningwhere students can really get
involved?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
We have revamped newbies mixers.
We have revamped newbies mixers.
So if you are in high school ormiddle school, look out for
calls that are called discohangouts and we will be having
some fun on the virtual discofloor.
We may be jamming to music,playing games and just hanging
out getting to know each other.
(16:51):
And if you're in elementaryschool, we're going to be having
some wild hangouts where wewill also be playing some games.
So, yeah, those are two thingsyou can look forward to.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Going back to the high school disco hangouts,
there may or may not be somesort of lore connection at some
point with a couple differentthings from NSA, and if you're
not aware of NSA's lore,definitely look for the wiki.
Somehow in NSA that's a greatway to get involved in the chaos
as well.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, well, we mentioned some events and just
check your messages.
Make sure you're looking at thelanding page when you log in
and checking teams.
There's always conversations toget into or announcements.
Don't forget about the NSAConnects if you're a high school
student, because you can meet alot of students there and a lot
of really cool people.
I've got a director's cornercoming up.
(17:43):
I do those a couple of times soyou can just ask me any
questions you want Interview me,all right, so you've met two
students If you're new to NorthStar, you're thinking about it
Nathan Rexroth and Tiana Dean,so you can look them up, message
them, be brave and do that andget to know them more, ask them
(18:03):
a question that you didn't getanswered here and just how you
can get involved.
So lots of students.
If someone reaches out to you,make sure you reach back and
build that relationship.
Thanks again, tiana and Nathan,for just leading out this year
in the welcome committee, comingon here and sharing.
I'm super, super thankful forboth of you.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Yeah, it's been really fun.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Thank you so much for listening today.
If you have any questions forour guest or would like
information about Northstar,please email us.
At podcast at nsaschool, welove having guests on our show
and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature, please emailus and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
(18:55):
upcoming stories.
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