The announcement by Governor Whitmer to close school for three weeks initially shocked and excited junior Alexis Mountford. She, like many other teens, was looking forward to the break and seeing her friends.

“I kinda didn’t know what to think, but I thought I was going to be able to hangout with my friends and everything,” Mountford said.

Since then, Whitmer has announced a stay-at-home mandate stopping all non-essential gatherings. Mountford can no longer spend time with her friends face-to-face, but she has made sure to keep in touch.

“My screen time has gone up by a lot, I’ve been using Snapchat all hours of the day just trying to keep in touch so we don’t forget about each other,” Mountford said. 

Her education has also become completely internet based, and the sudden switch from classroom to chromebook has been a challenge. 

“I feel like I’ve had a lot more work than usual, quite a bit even in classes I don’t normally have homework in, but I’ve been trying to keep up with it but it does feel like a lot,” Mountford said. ”It’s a little bit tough but I do appreciate the teachers that do the online stuff, like they’ll do like a Google Hangout or something to help people who don’t understand. I’ll always hop on those calls.”

Her spring break plans of a cruise were also cancelled due to the virus. But despite the difficulties, she is trying to live as normal as possible by create a routine. 

“I have quite a bit of homework now so I wake up super late and I have to do my homework all day and then my family plays euchre at eight o’clock every night,” Mountford said. “We have kind of a schedule for that so that makes that makes it a little bit better.”

For Mountford, the benefit of this break is the fact that she’ll get to spend more time sleeping. She also gets to play wither her brother’s bearded dragon, Magma. But strangely enough, she has found herself missing one thing.

“It’s weird, I’ve always hoped for something like this,” Mountford said. “During the school year I’m like ‘Oh my gosh when can I get a break’ but now that I’m on the break I want to go back to school!”