For most of her junior year, senior Kim Martinez (she/her) began her school day by logging onto a video call at 9 a.m. As a student at Northshore Online Academy, Martinez said she had a more flexible schedule and a better learning experience.
Middle schoolers and high schoolers in NOA take lessons and complete assignments while guided by a mentor teacher through a software called Edgenuity. Martinez began each week with a homeroom video call on Monday. The mentor teacher would regularly check in with students about their assignments and lessons.
“He would go one by one, checking how everyone is and try to make everyone social,” Martinez said. “He would check everyone’s grades and just make sure they’re on track, and if not, they would talk and make a plan to catch up.”
After wrapping up her morning Zoom call, Martinez would take a break and have breakfast, then work on assignments until around 4 p.m. She found that the flexible online model allowed her to manage her time better and stay on top of all of her work, thus leaving her with more free time.
“I would finish my work. I would try to get ahead and then see if I could take a break,” Martinez said. “I would go out more. I would take walks to stores or take buses and have small trips.”
NOA has an extensive catalog of classes and clubs, offering AP classes, an array of electives — ranging from advertising and sales to archaeology to public speaking — and online and in-person clubs for all of its secondary students. Martinez said that she also liked the many unique elective options and got the opportunity to be involved with clubs such as yearbook.
“They have a lot of programs that public school doesn’t have, like there’s classes for writing Gothic or different genres.”
Martinez said that she switched from Inglemoor to NOA by reaching out to her school counselor. They discussed alternative academic pathways as part of Northshore Learning Options.
“I chose to do online because I was struggling in school and just with myself,” Martinez said. “It’s great. It’s much easier online.”
While her experience with NOA was mostly positive, Martinez added that she would have liked to see more organization.
“I would struggle a bit because every teacher had different due dates and stuff like that, and it wouldn’t match with other classes or align.”
Brian Matthias (he/him) is the principal of Northshore Learning Options and manages NSD’s three alternative learning pathways: Northshore Family Partnership, Northshore Networks and Northshore Online Academy. He said that NOA was created post-COVID after realizing the potential of online learning for students who thrive in a more self-directed environment. Currently, there are 134 students in grades 9 through 12 enrolled in NOA. In addition to a counseling team, a special education team and an English language development team, there are four certificated NOA mentor teachers.
“It was an effort to then take what really worked in COVID for some students, but then do it with a lot of intention, right?” Matthias said. “Do it not just because we’re scrambling — and it’s the only mechanism and the only form and avenue for kids to engage in school — but build it to be something that we wanted to be with a lot of care and love and attention from a lot of smart people who did really well during the COVID years.”
Matthias said that NOA tries to avoid the isolation that is often synonymous with online learning by providing many opportunities for students to bond, both in-person at Bear Creek Campus and online. He said their staff prides themselves on getting to know the stories and values of each student.
“We really want them to see, feel seen and valued in that they have a voice, and we can only do that by getting to know their history, their background, their story, what they care about, their family, their space within their culture of heritage,” Matthias said.
Matthias hopes that students don’t conflate NOA with COVID learning. He said that many students choose NOA because of unique time commitments and physical, mental or emotional reasons.
“NOA does not serve one particular group of students or type of learner,” Matthias said. “We pride ourselves in supporting students and families from all walks of lives and experiences. We meet folks where they are and honor the needs of the individual.”
Martinez said she preferred the online learning environment, both at NOA and during COVID. However, she decided to return to Inglemoor for a typical high school experience in her senior year.
“I wanted to graduate, go on the stage, but also, I was away from people for a year, so I haven’t seen anyone. So I was kind of losing my mind a little bit,” Martinez said. “I came back here to see my friends and people.”
