In the blink of an eye, the world stopped for Plymouth High School senior Matthew MacLellan. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Michigan, even the most basic aspects of life have been drastically altered.

For the past two months, MacLellan, like thousands of public school students across the state, has been taken out of the classroom and prompted to finish their academic year on their own.

On March 11, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) declared a state of emergency in Michigan as a result of the first positive cases of COVID-19 in the state.

“To suppress the spread of COVID-19, to prevent the state’s health care system from being overwhelmed, to allow time for the production of critical test kits, ventilators, and personal protective equipment, and to avoid needless deaths, it is reasonable and necessary to direct residents to remain at home or in their place of residence to the maximum extent feasible,” Whitmer said in her executive order.

In addition, she urged all educational institutions to exercise best judgment when considering how and if to continue in-person instruction.

“We are encouraging schools, universities, businesses, and other organizations to use their best judgment about what steps are most appropriate to keep people safe and to slow the spread of the disease,” Whitmer said during a news conference.

Initially, only major public universities such as Michigan State University and the University of Michigan canceled all in-person classes as a response to the order, but quickly the remainder of schools in the state began to follow suit.

By March 16, the Michigan Board of Education estimated that nearly 80% of schools (pre-k, grade school, high school and secondary education all included), had temporarily closed due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus in many Michigan communities.

Finally, on April 2, Whitmer announced that all schools in Michigan would remain closed for the rest of the school year.

This left many worried about the fate of their child’s education and if they would have to repeat a grade come fall. While these decisions are made on a district by district basis, the Michigan Board of Education and Whitmer laid out very few guidelines for school districts to adhere to.

“School districts are required by the Executive Order to develop plans for educating their students remotely,” State Superintendent Michael Rice said in an official news statement.

There have been no promises of distributing proper technology to students from both the school districts and the Michigan Board of Education.

For the Plymouth-Canton School District, located in southeast Michigan, students like MacLellan will be evaluated on a personal level.

In other words: If a student was passing their courses at the time of the school’s closure and there have been no “red flags” about the student’s learning ability, they will pass to the next grade level. If not, the student will be asked to repeat the previous grade level. 

However, since the school district cannot guarantee that all students have the technology necessary for online learning, all remaining coursework for the 2019-20 school year will be “optional.”

“The traditional school year is canceled, but all of the online schooling is optional,” said MacLellan, a senior at Plymouth High School. “Nothing will affect your grade. They (school administration) said if you were passing before the break happened, you will go to the next grade.”

MacLellan, along with his nearly 6,000 fellow high school students at the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park, now face the challenge of taking charge of their education.

“I’m going to try to do stuff, but it’s hard to stay motivated,” MacLellan said.

MacLellan also noted that although his classes have been all but canceled, his Advanced Placement exams are still taking place. To receive college credit for the multiple AP courses MacLellan has been taking this year, he must take a modified version of the test online.

Instead of the traditional free response and multiple choice sections typically associated with the exams, MacLellan now must complete a single essay response online within the allotted 45 minute time frame.

These online exams are scheduled to take place from May 11-22, according to the College Board’s most recent update. Commencement is scheduled for June 7.

While MacLellan commented that he is happy to finish high school, he cannot help but worry about the state of his first semester at Madonna University in nearby Livonia, Michigan, where he is slated to play basketball.

“Well, I’m glad I don’t have to do anything, but I also know it’s probably not good for me to not do school work for six months,” MacLellan said.

Medical workers – doctors, nurses and respiratory specialists – are on the frontline, keeping their communities safe everywhere.

In Canton, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit that is located in Wayne County, area hospitals have worked to establish new routines to help keep medical workers and patients alike safe in this era of COVID-19.

The challenge medical workers face is great in a community of 93,018 people where, 13,233 have tested positive for the coronavirus and 1,044 have died from the illness. Statewide, Michigan officials reported on its website on Friday, April 17, that 30,023 citizens have tested positive for COVID-19 and 2,227 residents have died from the illness since officials started keeping tallies.

But in Canton, strict procedures remain in place. Visitors to area hospitals should expect to see some of the following: