Although it came as a shock for many people when Governor  Whitmer closed schools through April 12, junior Lilly Shepard says she was expecting it. 

“I wasn’t that surprised because I’m also in early college and MCC had already closed,” Shepard said. “I was kind of excited about it.”

According to Shepard, though, the excitement quickly faded when she realized the severity of the situation. Along with a large workload, she became increasingly concerned for her health due to a preexisting medical condition. 

“I’ve always had some lung issues,” Shepard said. “It takes me about a month to get over a 24-hour cold.”

Because of this concern, Shepard and her family have been taking social distancing orders very seriously, but because of this, she hasn’t been able to go to either of her two jobs or hang out with any friends.

“It was really, really, really hard for me to just kind of be at home,” Shepard said. 

Like so many others, Shepard has been forced to create a new normal for herself and alter the way she lives. One thing she’s had to change about her life is how she spends time with her boyfriend. 

“We came up with the idea to kind of back our cars up to each other, about 10 feet away,” Shepard said. 

She says that they both made their cars comfortable and have been able to just sit and talk. The solution isn’t ideal, but it works.

Although it’s difficult to know what the future holds, Shepard is hoping to start a new project with her family soon. 

“So, we’re starting this big old garden,” Shepard said. “We’ve also been baking a lot and my mom and I have about a billion different arts and crafts projects we’re going to do.”

She knows that the situation has been hard for everyone to deal with, but Shepard shared one way that she’s been able to cope is to just turn her phone off and take a break from social media. 

While everyone is currently adjusting to a new way of living, it’s important to stay calm and try to continue life as normally as possible, Shepard is a great example of this. 

“My family always jokes that I go eight days a week,” Shepard said. “I’ve been following the rules and everything but it was kind of hard to cope with at first.”