It’s day five of the DeYoung coronacation spirit week: Camping Friday.

Junior Miriam DeYoung and her family gather around the campfire with sticks in hand as they roast hotdogs and marshmallows. They are surrounded with warmth and laughter as her dad shares stories about his past. 

DeYoung has spent a lot of her coronacation bonding with her family. Spirit week is just one of the many ways they have found entertainment while social distancing.

“We’ve been watching a lot of movies,” DeYoung said. “We watched the entire Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series. My mom has been getting out puzzles, which I tend to gravitate away from. I’m not good at puzzles. We’ve been going on walks down the road and just hanging out without annoying each other.”

When DeYoung isn’t spending time with her family, she can be found working on her guitar skills and writing songs. Every week she creates a video and uploads it to her YouTube channel in hopes to give people a source of entertainment during this stressful time.

“It’s just given me a lot of time to be more creative with it,” DeYoung said. “I post once a week, but I’ve been able to actually work out what I’m gonna post instead of just bringing something out of my back pocket.”

Like many other students, DeYoung’s daily routine was instantly altered when the COVID-19 outbreak began. She used to work at Skoops which closed due to the virus. Work was her one way of communicating with those outside of her immediate family. DeYoung was disappointed at first, but she realizes that it’s a part of our safety.

“The biggest challenge has been just trying to redefine all of the expectations for a lot of the parts of my life,” DeYoung said. Like where I’m allowed to go, what I’m allowed to do, and not being able to hang out with my friends or just kind of the confinement of that. It’s just been the biggest struggle.”

Despite the challenges, she continues to make the most out of the situation. The DeYoung family plans to continue their spirit week with Fishing Saturday and Rainbow Sunday.