by Brielle Balke, 04/08/2020, TRAVERSE CITY, MI

Middle School 6-8 Category

The year is 2020 and the world is experiencing a global pandemic called the coronavirus or covid 19. It is having many impacts around the world. I live in Michigan and our Governor Whitmer declared a state of emergency on March 10,2020. Michigan’s schools were closed on March 16 and a stay-at-home order for Michigan residents started on March 23. The lockdown has caused a lot of changes to occur in how we live life.
My biggest change was switching to online school. My parents are mostly the ones who are helping me with my school work like math, english, science and social studies. I still interact with my teachers and get help from them through email. By doing online school at home it helps me with my typing because I can say the words out loud without disturbing other people. I miss going to school though because I can’t see my friends. Some of the good things about doing online school are that I can make my own schedule, I don’t have to pack my lunch and I don’t have to wake up at a certain time. I do like doing online school now but I would not like doing it until I graduate from high school.I miss seeing my teachers and I miss talking directly to them. I still keep in touch with my friends through facetime and texting.
My family and I had to change our celebration plans. For example we were supposed to go to the Great Wolf Lodge but we had to cancel because of the state’s restrictions on non-essential travel. All of my aunts, uncles and cousins from my mom’s side who live down state were supposed to come up to celebrate Easter and my sister’s and cousin’s birthday but it all got canceled due to the travel restrictions.We were also planning on going to Petoskey for an overnight trip and do some hiking and go out to eat. We even found a hotel that allows dogs so we could take our dog hiking with us over spring break, but we had to cancel that trip as well.
This is the first global pandemic that I have experienced.I hope it is the last pandemic that I will experience.I hope they will come up with a vaccination that will help everyone. I would like my children to know how it affected my learning and what we did for school to stop the spread of the virus. I could also tell them how the whole state had to be in lock down. That means we stayed home, we went on walks, we did not eat out, we got to spend time with our family, we learned new games, read new books, had plenty of time to do yard work and house projects, and spent time outside. The most important thing to do is to stay safe and stay healthy.