Jenison High School against the Coronavirus

Many high schools in the state of Michigan have made many changes to their ‘normal’ school day to accommodate the governor’s executive orders.

Across the world, the coronavirus has made its impact with almost everything possible. Daily norms and activities are now not allowed by state law. Sports teams, clubs, and organizations had to make adjustments to these new guidelines, and many consider it to be a challenge.

Early Spring Break

Michigan school’s were told they would not return to school to finish the 2019-2020 school year on March 13th. From there on out students have had to make adjustments to finish all of their learning.

“When I found out we would not be returning to school I was shocked…It was a weird feeling. I was really curious as to how everything would pan out from there on,” stated Kaelyn Garrow, grade 12.

Jenison students and staff have had to prepare for school in a different way. The high school switched their everyday class schedules to block scheduling; having 3 classes one day, the other 3 the next for 2 hours each. 

Weeks passed since the first day of school and some students and staff would say they adjusted to the new change pretty well.

“As a teacher, it provided some logistical challenges in the beginning, yet provides a lot of opportunities for students to ask questions and to work on their assigned topics while limiting homework,” stated Mr. Formsma, Teacher.

Although, a few students expressed their opinion on block scheduling and the flaws they have found with it.

“I honestly don’t like the block scheduling because I feel like there is too much time for one subject. For me personally, a lot of my teachers are just lecturing the full two hours which leaves no work time. Then there will be days I have to pile everything into one day because of it and that becomes very stressful,” said Kaelyn Garrow.

Moving Forward

Jenison High Schools Principal Dr. Graham and other staff spent all summer planning and coming up with ideas that would make students coming back to school safe for everybody and expressed his worries coming into this school year.

“Not knowing if we were even going to be able to open. I worried about providing a safe learning environment for kids and most importantly, how to keep everyone safe,” states Dr. Graham, Principle at Jenison High School.

Hope For the Future

Looking into the future, there is still uncertainty about what is going to happen and what is allowed. 

“One thing I know is we can’t predict anything, we are living week to week and day to day. Principles often have to look months and weeks in advance. Things will hopefully get better,” said Dr. Graham.

Although the coronavirus brought anxiety and scarcity, there are still positive components coming out of being able to return back to school. Dr Graham shares that he is grateful…“Having students back in the building. I am very proud of how well students and staff are doing with the protocols.”

Many students and staff would say these changes are not what they are used to, but over time this turned into the new ‘normal’.

Eventually school will be back to normal for students and staff at Jenison High School. But until then, caution and awareness of the coronavirus will continue to be a challenge for the school and upcoming events.