November 12, 2024 • 19 mins
Step into the vibrant world of student leadership with NorthStar Academy's own Isabelle Phillips and Hallie Griffin, whose remarkable stories promise to inspire and educate. Join us as Isabelle, the Student Council content creator, and Hallie, the ad coordinator, share their unique experiences from an international online school setting. They offer a window into how they balance an array of responsibilities—from student council duties to personal passions like Isabelle's emerging cookie business—while forming meaningful connections with peers across diverse cultures. This episode is packed with valuable insights into how these experiences have shaped their understanding of the world and honed their leadership skills.
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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 forjoining us on this episode.
We've got another episode witha couple of our student council
(00:26):
members here at Northstar, andit's always a delight when we
have them joining us to tell usa little bit about what's
happening at Northstar and whatthey're learning.
And each of these girls arevery creative and have so many
cool things.
I'd love to talk about them all, but we don't have time to do
that, so we're going to stayfocused a little bit on
leadership and how they'relearning that.
(00:48):
How do they juggle their timewith North Star and leadership
and all the different stuffthey've got going on in their
lives.
So we have Isabel with us todayand Hallie with us today.
Thank you, ladies, so much forjoining us.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Of course, excited to be here.
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yes, so glad you're here.
Okay, let's take a moment foreach of you to introduce
yourself.
Tell us your role on studentcouncil and maybe how long
you've been at Northstar andanything about.
I know y'all got some siblingsand you've got lots of stuff
your own business and just lotsof things going on.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou.
Isabel, you want to go first?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Sure so, isabel Phillips, I am the Stukco
content creator.
This is my second year atNorthstar.
I live in West Africa with myfamily.
We're serving here in Niger andI have three younger brothers
and am currently starting my owncookie business.
And am currently starting myown cookie business.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
My name is Hallie Griffin.
This is my third year here atNorthstar and I am the ad
coordinator.
I have eight younger siblings,but only two of them are doing
Northstar right now and I don'tdo any businesses.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
But you're quite active on Northstar and have
been for a while, so I love, Ilove that that you are so
well-rounded and doing so manythings.
Like most all of our Northstarstudents, it's always a
privilege to have you on and,yeah, just getting to serve here
with you.
Thank you so much for yourinvestment in Northstar and our
community and our students, andI'm excited to hear what you've
(02:27):
been learning through, yeah,being able to do so many cool
things online, and so I alwayslike to share our students'
experience for people that mightbe listening and they're like
how do you do this stuff online?
What does this look like?
Do you mean you're really realpeople?
And so tell us a little bitabout?
(02:48):
Think about, if you didn't knowanything about online school or
Northstar, what would you wantother families and students to
know?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's really fun.
You could think that it wouldbe really lame and boring or you
would kind of make superficialfriendships that wouldn't really
last like is on a lot of likevideo games.
But it's not even comparable tomaking friends on video games.
Um, it's very real and you seepeople's faces and everyone
(03:16):
really can get to know eachother.
So we do, uh, interacting inthe courtyard with lots of
different threads about allsorts of random topics, and we
can have group chats fordifferent very niche interests
and we do a lot of video callsand stuff and it's very engaging
(03:38):
and fun if you decide to getinvolved.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I completely agree.
I would highly recommend it toanyone and I feel like it's
helped me prepare myself for thereal world.
Through North Star you justmeet people from different
cultures to learn how tointeract with someone who might
come from a very differentbackground.
And everyone's fine in thecourtyard, especially if you get
(04:00):
there.
You can get connected with thecommunity and I would totally
recommend it to anyone.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, how many times have you met someone that's been
on a different continent thanyou?
A bajillion times.
It's so awesome.
That's one of the things I lovethe most is that we are truly
an international school.
We are global, so tell me alittle bit about what it's like.
I mean, right here, we're ondifferent continents.
In this call we've only gotthree people, and so what's it
(04:30):
like getting to learn aboutdifferent peoples whether it's
time zones, their culture, justdifferent lives, and how each
person is so uniquely gifted andcalled to do different things?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I've really appreciated it.
It's given me a lot ofdifferent role models and
examples for ways to be morelike Christ, and it's also
helped me just learn a lot aboutthe world.
I, unfortunately, when I cameto NSA, was kind of like a
stereotypical homeschooledAmerican who has no idea what
the rest of the world is like,and so I've learned a lot about
(05:08):
other countries and cultures andgot rid of the stereotypes that
are in my mind, and it's beenreally cool and interesting to
learn about everything indifferent places.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
As an MK, I've gotten to learn more.
I've always heard about allthese experiences and cultures
across the world and throughNorthstar I've been able to talk
to people who firsthand live inthese religions and cultures,
and so I have loved it gettingto have conversations, sometimes
even if we don't agree, justhearing their perspective and
their thoughts and theirupbringings.
(05:42):
And you can meet the mostdiverse people through Northstar
, and I love just hearing theirstories about their religions,
comparing it to my experienceand my religion.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, that's so good that you both get exposed to
that.
And, yeah, while you're in highschool, while our kids are in
middle school, you know evenelementary and how that is
shaping students' lives andviews on the world.
So I love that.
How do you balance school withserving on STUCO and with life
(06:17):
in general?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
That was a very hard thing for me when I first joined
on STUCO.
I'm also taking college classesand I wanted to make sure it's
my last two years here in myhome to spend time with my
family, to make sure it's mylast two years here in my home
to spend time with my family,and so I have had to have a lot
of errors in my learningexperience.
But I decided to do certainboundaries where I would focus
(06:40):
on schooling and then one daywhere I could focus on STUCO
extracurricular activities, andthen the weekends I would close
off teams, say this is my family, it's time with me.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
For me.
I have tried to kind of put aset cutoff time for when I'm
doing student council work.
So at 12 in my time I say, okay, I'm going to be done with any
student council work, I'm justgoing to focus on school, unless
there's something urgent thatsomeone texts me about.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah that's good.
It sounds like you're learningto put good boundaries in your
life, which is so important forus to do at any age.
So it's so cool that you'relearning that.
Now I've got this little stickynote on my computer.
I want to ask you about becauseI've been challenging our staff
(07:32):
to make sure they're takingbreaks throughout the day
whether that is going to grabsome water, lunch, going to the
restroom, going to take a walk,like sometimes we get so busy in
our stuff that we just don'ttake a break, we forget.
So how important is it to takebreaks when you're doing school
and you're sitting at a computerall day?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I think it's really important.
I find that if I don't take abreak, I end up not being able
to focus at all, and so if Inotice I'm starting to have a
hard time focusing, I'll justtake a break and I'll go get a
snack or go get some water orjust wander around and see what
my family's doing for a coupleminutes before I come back and
continue.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I agree.
I cannot stress how importantbreaks are.
Just, we're humans and so whenwe're working we're going to
need to take breaks.
Give our brain the time to juststop working, pull on, and so I
think, just like maybe an houror so, and then get up, walk
around, go get water and just dosomething, just allowing your
brain to rest for a few minutes,because you're staring at a
(08:35):
computer screen, which alreadyis not the best.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, that's so true.
Okay, so thinking about yourroles on student council,
creating ad content, making sureour community knows what's
going on, your role is superimportant in our communication.
So how do breaks affect that?
What do we need in order to beable to have that creativity and
(09:02):
keep it flowing?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I find for me, my creativity is always flowing if
I'm not in my school room whereI'll work, and so if I've worked
half a day I will take a break,and then, once during that
break, I'll move locations justto be in a new area, and that's
when I'll work on stucco stuff,just to give my brain a new
(09:24):
environment, which always, forme, helps me reset and know what
and focus on something elsebesides school.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, that's good.
I love to jump out and take awalk, especially if it's a
really pretty day.
What about you, Hallie?
Anything to add to that?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Not really.
I had thought about breakshelping creativity.
I just try and get excited andthen that helps me write in a
way that hopefully will getother people excited too.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, that's good.
Collaboration is important atNorth Star.
How do you see that among thestudents?
Speaker 3 (09:59):
In student council.
I don't see as much of theother teams doing stuff because
we're not on that team, butIsabelle and I will communicate
a lot about what's going on.
If there's stuff that's needingto be made, we'll talk about
who's going to work on that orif either of us need any help,
which I've really appreciated,and I know a lot of other people
(10:21):
do collaboration as well.
I just don't see as much.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, teamwork is so important and being intentional
just to meet and build thatcommunity.
What's the hardest thing,what's a challenge with your
role or what's something thatyou've really learned about
leadership in your role?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I learned how to say no.
That was really hard for me.
I would get a lot of postersand I knew that I would not be
able to do it well and solearning to say no or to say I
need help.
So Hallie's been amazing whereI could just go to her and tell
her I need help and she couldtake something off my plate.
(11:01):
So that aspect of leadershipnot always doing everything, but
allowing other people tosupport me and help me- For me.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
The biggest thing that I have learned is that
sometimes I just need to dosomething.
When I first joined, I wasreally scared to do anything
without express direction andyou have to do this right now
because I didn't want to make amistake and mess up.
But I've slowly become morecomfortable with oh, I was told
(11:31):
I need to do this at some point,and I don't always have to
check everything by someone elsebefore I do it.
I just need to do it and ifthere's a mistake they can tell
me and I can fix it.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
That's good, yep, sometimes you have to just jump
out there and try things.
So I love that yeah, both ofyours answers and how you're
growing, because we can't sayyes to everything in life.
Right, that's super hard, buthaving that wisdom and then
having a great friend like y'allhave to help, help each other,
(12:03):
say I need help in all kinds ofthings.
Where do you see Jesus in ourschool?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I personally see him the most in the big buildings
where students are interacting.
You'll see all kinds ofconversations and I just see
Jesus's love um he's put in usfor other people, the way people
can encourage each other andsupport each other, even if it's
through messages, um just everysingle conversation where you
(12:32):
have Christian studentssometimes non-Christian students
just interacting.
You see how diverse we are andJesus created us like them.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I see it in the girls community group a lot.
Actually, everyone's reallysupportive and loving towards
each other.
When someone shares a prayerrequest, everyone is praying.
And I'm not sure with everycircumstance, but I know when
I've shared a prayer request Ialways have multiple people who
reach out to me and say they'repraying for me or ask if there's
(13:05):
any way they can support me.
And I just see Jesus can't behere physically with us, but he
can use his people to do what hewould.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
That's so good.
Yeah, it's so fun to have theglobal aspect, to know that God
has brought us here all togetherand just to see him working,
and I love both of your hearts.
In the surveys before you cameon that, you filled out that you
really have a heart to share,to share him with other students
, Because we have all differenttypes of students that come from
(13:38):
all backgrounds, like we'vesaid, and that's amazing to get
to learn from each other andchallenge one another.
How do you think God's used youmost here at Northstar?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Me personally.
I've had some friends I've madewhere they were struggling
through a really hard time and Iwas able to support them and
share my own experiences, andthen, in little ways, where if I
say something and people willmessage me privately and say you
have no idea how much thathelped me, or I really needed
this today.
And so that's how I see Godusing me just to be a friend,
(14:14):
support others and to buildothers up.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, I'm not sure how perfectly I've done this no
one's perfect, of course but Itry really hard to just support
my friends.
Um like with school, everyonehas a hard time with school, and
so I always try to beencouraging and just be friendly
(14:39):
towards people.
So that's probably the biggestway I've helped.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, I love that people get to hear your hearts
right now and just the heartsthat you have for friendship,
for loving on people, and myprayer is that all students
would see that, would feel thatwe want every student to be
known and loved and heard, andso I know y'all play a big role
in helping that happen, as wellas the rest of our STUCO and so
(15:09):
many other students.
So thank you so much for doingthat and just being involved in
the community and for sharingtoday that we do have a
community, for sharing todaythat we do have a community.
It's so hard to tell the storyof North Star for those that
have never done online school orjust can't imagine.
You know, because unless you'rea part of North Star, you
really can't imagine right orget a good picture.
(15:32):
So I've been trying to figureout how do we tell the North
Star story in just a few moments.
You know that someone willlisten or watch a video.
So how would you, how would yourecommend to me to tell the
story?
Like if you just had 30 secondsor a minute or two to make a
commercial, like, what would wesay?
(15:53):
How do we?
It's so hard, how do?
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I think you could find a lot of people who would
give the testament of.
I made a lot of friends here.
I know when I first came toNorth Star I had friends in
person at my church, but Ididn't really feel like I fit in
with them as well.
And then I joined NSA and I waslike, oh my word, these are my
people.
These people get me and whenI'm socially awkward, awkward,
(16:21):
they understand that they aresocially awkward sometimes too,
and they will forgive me forthat I agree with how he said it
.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
There's so many parts of north star and so many
wonderful aspects, but I dothink that real life stories
would be amazing just hearing somany people.
When I first joined north star,that's what I've looked for
hearing people's stories ofsaying how much north star
helped them, shaped them as whothey are, as a believer and a
(16:48):
person.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, that's good.
We do have so many stories andI know we've been able to
capture just a glimpse of thosestories.
There's so many more.
Some of them I hear about, someof them the teachers hear about
.
Some of them we never, probablyever, hear about, and so
capturing those stories, sowe've gotten to capture a little
bit of your story not all of it.
I know you've got much biggerand longer stories, but I just
(17:13):
wanted everyone our listeners tohear about a little bit about
your experience at Northstar andwhat you're learning and so
thankful that you're growing inyour leadership every day and
just live that out here.
Thank you for sharing Christ,for loving people in and outside
North Star, for the good workyou are doing.
Yeah, is there anything elsethat you want to share about
(17:37):
Stucco, about what you'relearning?
As people might be in NorthStar listening to this or
outside thinking, do I want tocome to Northstar?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I think just to everyone who's listening be
involved.
Don't be scared to reach out topeople.
It's going to be scary at firstit always is but it's worth it.
That's a promise I can make.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
One thing I'd say is student councils are still just
students and we just love andcare about all the students, the
school, and so we're justtrying to help and do the best
we can to make it an awesomeexperience for everyone.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, and y'all are all doing a great job and just
thank you.
Thank you so so much and forcoming on today for sharing a
little bit about your story andwhat God is doing at North Star.
It's always an exciting place,always evolving and growing and
just getting to work together.
So I pray you have a great day,great rest of the week and just
(18:39):
thank you so much, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
If you have any questions forour guest or like information
about Northstar, please email us.
At podcast at NSA dot school,we love having guests on our
(19:00):
show and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature to hear theirstories, if you have anyone in
mind that you think would be agreat guest to feature, please
email us and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
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 forjoining us on this episode.
We've got another episode witha couple of our student council
(00:26):
members here at Northstar, andit's always a delight when we
have them joining us to tell usa little bit about what's
happening at Northstar and whatthey're learning.
And each of these girls arevery creative and have so many
cool things.
I'd love to talk about them all, but we don't have time to do
that, so we're going to stayfocused a little bit on
leadership and how they'relearning that.
(00:48):
How do they juggle their timewith North Star and leadership
and all the different stuffthey've got going on in their
lives.
So we have Isabel with us todayand Hallie with us today.
Thank you, ladies, so much forjoining us.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Of course, excited to be here.
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yes, so glad you're here.
Okay, let's take a moment foreach of you to introduce
yourself.
Tell us your role on studentcouncil and maybe how long
you've been at Northstar andanything about.
I know y'all got some siblingsand you've got lots of stuff
your own business and just lotsof things going on.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou.
Isabel, you want to go first?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Sure so, isabel Phillips, I am the Stukco
content creator.
This is my second year atNorthstar.
I live in West Africa with myfamily.
We're serving here in Niger andI have three younger brothers
and am currently starting my owncookie business.
And am currently starting myown cookie business.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
My name is Hallie Griffin.
This is my third year here atNorthstar and I am the ad
coordinator.
I have eight younger siblings,but only two of them are doing
Northstar right now and I don'tdo any businesses.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
But you're quite active on Northstar and have
been for a while, so I love, Ilove that that you are so
well-rounded and doing so manythings.
Like most all of our Northstarstudents, it's always a
privilege to have you on and,yeah, just getting to serve here
with you.
Thank you so much for yourinvestment in Northstar and our
community and our students, andI'm excited to hear what you've
(02:27):
been learning through, yeah,being able to do so many cool
things online, and so I alwayslike to share our students'
experience for people that mightbe listening and they're like
how do you do this stuff online?
What does this look like?
Do you mean you're really realpeople?
And so tell us a little bitabout?
(02:48):
Think about, if you didn't knowanything about online school or
Northstar, what would you wantother families and students to
know?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's really fun.
You could think that it wouldbe really lame and boring or you
would kind of make superficialfriendships that wouldn't really
last like is on a lot of likevideo games.
But it's not even comparable tomaking friends on video games.
Um, it's very real and you seepeople's faces and everyone
(03:16):
really can get to know eachother.
So we do, uh, interacting inthe courtyard with lots of
different threads about allsorts of random topics, and we
can have group chats fordifferent very niche interests
and we do a lot of video callsand stuff and it's very engaging
(03:38):
and fun if you decide to getinvolved.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I completely agree.
I would highly recommend it toanyone and I feel like it's
helped me prepare myself for thereal world.
Through North Star you justmeet people from different
cultures to learn how tointeract with someone who might
come from a very differentbackground.
And everyone's fine in thecourtyard, especially if you get
(04:00):
there.
You can get connected with thecommunity and I would totally
recommend it to anyone.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, how many times have you met someone that's been
on a different continent thanyou?
A bajillion times.
It's so awesome.
That's one of the things I lovethe most is that we are truly
an international school.
We are global, so tell me alittle bit about what it's like.
I mean, right here, we're ondifferent continents.
In this call we've only gotthree people, and so what's it
(04:30):
like getting to learn aboutdifferent peoples whether it's
time zones, their culture, justdifferent lives, and how each
person is so uniquely gifted andcalled to do different things?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I've really appreciated it.
It's given me a lot ofdifferent role models and
examples for ways to be morelike Christ, and it's also
helped me just learn a lot aboutthe world.
I, unfortunately, when I cameto NSA, was kind of like a
stereotypical homeschooledAmerican who has no idea what
the rest of the world is like,and so I've learned a lot about
(05:08):
other countries and cultures andgot rid of the stereotypes that
are in my mind, and it's beenreally cool and interesting to
learn about everything indifferent places.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
As an MK, I've gotten to learn more.
I've always heard about allthese experiences and cultures
across the world and throughNorthstar I've been able to talk
to people who firsthand live inthese religions and cultures,
and so I have loved it gettingto have conversations, sometimes
even if we don't agree, justhearing their perspective and
their thoughts and theirupbringings.
(05:42):
And you can meet the mostdiverse people through Northstar
, and I love just hearing theirstories about their religions,
comparing it to my experienceand my religion.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, that's so good that you both get exposed to
that.
And, yeah, while you're in highschool, while our kids are in
middle school, you know evenelementary and how that is
shaping students' lives andviews on the world.
So I love that.
How do you balance school withserving on STUCO and with life
(06:17):
in general?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
That was a very hard thing for me when I first joined
on STUCO.
I'm also taking college classesand I wanted to make sure it's
my last two years here in myhome to spend time with my
family, to make sure it's mylast two years here in my home
to spend time with my family,and so I have had to have a lot
of errors in my learningexperience.
But I decided to do certainboundaries where I would focus
(06:40):
on schooling and then one daywhere I could focus on STUCO
extracurricular activities, andthen the weekends I would close
off teams, say this is my family, it's time with me.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
For me.
I have tried to kind of put aset cutoff time for when I'm
doing student council work.
So at 12 in my time I say, okay, I'm going to be done with any
student council work, I'm justgoing to focus on school, unless
there's something urgent thatsomeone texts me about.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah that's good.
It sounds like you're learningto put good boundaries in your
life, which is so important forus to do at any age.
So it's so cool that you'relearning that.
Now I've got this little stickynote on my computer.
I want to ask you about becauseI've been challenging our staff
(07:32):
to make sure they're takingbreaks throughout the day
whether that is going to grabsome water, lunch, going to the
restroom, going to take a walk,like sometimes we get so busy in
our stuff that we just don'ttake a break, we forget.
So how important is it to takebreaks when you're doing school
and you're sitting at a computerall day?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I think it's really important.
I find that if I don't take abreak, I end up not being able
to focus at all, and so if Inotice I'm starting to have a
hard time focusing, I'll justtake a break and I'll go get a
snack or go get some water orjust wander around and see what
my family's doing for a coupleminutes before I come back and
continue.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I agree.
I cannot stress how importantbreaks are.
Just, we're humans and so whenwe're working we're going to
need to take breaks.
Give our brain the time to juststop working, pull on, and so I
think, just like maybe an houror so, and then get up, walk
around, go get water and just dosomething, just allowing your
brain to rest for a few minutes,because you're staring at a
(08:35):
computer screen, which alreadyis not the best.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, that's so true.
Okay, so thinking about yourroles on student council,
creating ad content, making sureour community knows what's
going on, your role is superimportant in our communication.
So how do breaks affect that?
What do we need in order to beable to have that creativity and
(09:02):
keep it flowing?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I find for me, my creativity is always flowing if
I'm not in my school room whereI'll work, and so if I've worked
half a day I will take a break,and then, once during that
break, I'll move locations justto be in a new area, and that's
when I'll work on stucco stuff,just to give my brain a new
(09:24):
environment, which always, forme, helps me reset and know what
and focus on something elsebesides school.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, that's good.
I love to jump out and take awalk, especially if it's a
really pretty day.
What about you, Hallie?
Anything to add to that?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Not really.
I had thought about breakshelping creativity.
I just try and get excited andthen that helps me write in a
way that hopefully will getother people excited too.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, that's good.
Collaboration is important atNorth Star.
How do you see that among thestudents?
Speaker 3 (09:59):
In student council.
I don't see as much of theother teams doing stuff because
we're not on that team, butIsabelle and I will communicate
a lot about what's going on.
If there's stuff that's needingto be made, we'll talk about
who's going to work on that orif either of us need any help,
which I've really appreciated,and I know a lot of other people
(10:21):
do collaboration as well.
I just don't see as much.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, teamwork is so important and being intentional
just to meet and build thatcommunity.
What's the hardest thing,what's a challenge with your
role or what's something thatyou've really learned about
leadership in your role?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I learned how to say no.
That was really hard for me.
I would get a lot of postersand I knew that I would not be
able to do it well and solearning to say no or to say I
need help.
So Hallie's been amazing whereI could just go to her and tell
her I need help and she couldtake something off my plate.
(11:01):
So that aspect of leadershipnot always doing everything, but
allowing other people tosupport me and help me- For me.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
The biggest thing that I have learned is that
sometimes I just need to dosomething.
When I first joined, I wasreally scared to do anything
without express direction andyou have to do this right now
because I didn't want to make amistake and mess up.
But I've slowly become morecomfortable with oh, I was told
(11:31):
I need to do this at some point,and I don't always have to
check everything by someone elsebefore I do it.
I just need to do it and ifthere's a mistake they can tell
me and I can fix it.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
That's good, yep, sometimes you have to just jump
out there and try things.
So I love that yeah, both ofyours answers and how you're
growing, because we can't sayyes to everything in life.
Right, that's super hard, buthaving that wisdom and then
having a great friend like y'allhave to help, help each other,
(12:03):
say I need help in all kinds ofthings.
Where do you see Jesus in ourschool?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I personally see him the most in the big buildings
where students are interacting.
You'll see all kinds ofconversations and I just see
Jesus's love um he's put in usfor other people, the way people
can encourage each other andsupport each other, even if it's
through messages, um just everysingle conversation where you
(12:32):
have Christian studentssometimes non-Christian students
just interacting.
You see how diverse we are andJesus created us like them.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I see it in the girls community group a lot.
Actually, everyone's reallysupportive and loving towards
each other.
When someone shares a prayerrequest, everyone is praying.
And I'm not sure with everycircumstance, but I know when
I've shared a prayer request Ialways have multiple people who
reach out to me and say they'repraying for me or ask if there's
(13:05):
any way they can support me.
And I just see Jesus can't behere physically with us, but he
can use his people to do what hewould.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
That's so good.
Yeah, it's so fun to have theglobal aspect, to know that God
has brought us here all togetherand just to see him working,
and I love both of your hearts.
In the surveys before you cameon that, you filled out that you
really have a heart to share,to share him with other students
, Because we have all differenttypes of students that come from
(13:38):
all backgrounds, like we'vesaid, and that's amazing to get
to learn from each other andchallenge one another.
How do you think God's used youmost here at Northstar?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Me personally.
I've had some friends I've madewhere they were struggling
through a really hard time and Iwas able to support them and
share my own experiences, andthen, in little ways, where if I
say something and people willmessage me privately and say you
have no idea how much thathelped me, or I really needed
this today.
And so that's how I see Godusing me just to be a friend,
(14:14):
support others and to buildothers up.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, I'm not sure how perfectly I've done this no
one's perfect, of course but Itry really hard to just support
my friends.
Um like with school, everyonehas a hard time with school, and
so I always try to beencouraging and just be friendly
(14:39):
towards people.
So that's probably the biggestway I've helped.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, I love that people get to hear your hearts
right now and just the heartsthat you have for friendship,
for loving on people, and myprayer is that all students
would see that, would feel thatwe want every student to be
known and loved and heard, andso I know y'all play a big role
in helping that happen, as wellas the rest of our STUCO and so
(15:09):
many other students.
So thank you so much for doingthat and just being involved in
the community and for sharingtoday that we do have a
community, for sharing todaythat we do have a community.
It's so hard to tell the storyof North Star for those that
have never done online school orjust can't imagine.
You know, because unless you'rea part of North Star, you
really can't imagine right orget a good picture.
(15:32):
So I've been trying to figureout how do we tell the North
Star story in just a few moments.
You know that someone willlisten or watch a video.
So how would you, how would yourecommend to me to tell the
story?
Like if you just had 30 secondsor a minute or two to make a
commercial, like, what would wesay?
(15:53):
How do we?
It's so hard, how do?
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I think you could find a lot of people who would
give the testament of.
I made a lot of friends here.
I know when I first came toNorth Star I had friends in
person at my church, but Ididn't really feel like I fit in
with them as well.
And then I joined NSA and I waslike, oh my word, these are my
people.
These people get me and whenI'm socially awkward, awkward,
(16:21):
they understand that they aresocially awkward sometimes too,
and they will forgive me forthat I agree with how he said it
.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
There's so many parts of north star and so many
wonderful aspects, but I dothink that real life stories
would be amazing just hearing somany people.
When I first joined north star,that's what I've looked for
hearing people's stories ofsaying how much north star
helped them, shaped them as whothey are, as a believer and a
(16:48):
person.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, that's good.
We do have so many stories andI know we've been able to
capture just a glimpse of thosestories.
There's so many more.
Some of them I hear about, someof them the teachers hear about
.
Some of them we never, probablyever, hear about, and so
capturing those stories, sowe've gotten to capture a little
bit of your story not all of it.
I know you've got much biggerand longer stories, but I just
(17:13):
wanted everyone our listeners tohear about a little bit about
your experience at Northstar andwhat you're learning and so
thankful that you're growing inyour leadership every day and
just live that out here.
Thank you for sharing Christ,for loving people in and outside
North Star, for the good workyou are doing.
Yeah, is there anything elsethat you want to share about
(17:37):
Stucco, about what you'relearning?
As people might be in NorthStar listening to this or
outside thinking, do I want tocome to Northstar?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I think just to everyone who's listening be
involved.
Don't be scared to reach out topeople.
It's going to be scary at firstit always is but it's worth it.
That's a promise I can make.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
One thing I'd say is student councils are still just
students and we just love andcare about all the students, the
school, and so we're justtrying to help and do the best
we can to make it an awesomeexperience for everyone.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, and y'all are all doing a great job and just
thank you.
Thank you so so much and forcoming on today for sharing a
little bit about your story andwhat God is doing at North Star.
It's always an exciting place,always evolving and growing and
just getting to work together.
So I pray you have a great day,great rest of the week and just
(18:39):
thank you so much, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
If you have any questions forour guest or like information
about Northstar, please email us.
At podcast at NSA dot school,we love having guests on our
(19:00):
show and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature to hear theirstories, if you have anyone in
mind that you think would be agreat guest to feature, please
email us and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
upcoming stories.
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