Allyson Hahn from L’Anse Creuse High School in Harrison Charter Township, Michigan talks about choosing in-person learning amid the pandemic as a senior. Although masked and physically distanced, Hahn still finds a way to bond with her friends in the school choir.

This piece was produced by Elliot Corbin at F.V. Pankow Center in Michigan via CreuseLine.

Michigan’s Health Department has ordered high schools throughout the state to move to remote learning from November 18 until December 9, with a scheduled return date of December 10. L’anse Cruese plans to return to in-person learning on December 11th. For now, Hahn’s class is doing online choir practice over Zoom. The plan is to still have a Christmas concert—only the students will record their performances, which will then be edited together.

Check back for more local updates from the students participating in the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs.

Related links:
High School in a Pandemic
Returning to School: Students’ Hopes & Concerns

 

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Allyson Hahn, Senior, L’Anse Creuse H.S.  I actually did have the choice, you can do online or in school, so I did in school.  I wanted to do in school, because it was my last year in high school.  So, I thought, you know maybe things would change.  Right now, I’m kind of hoping for the best.  How the choir program is doing our things, we’re going to still record it and all.  But we’re not going to have any shows or anything unless things open.  But for right now, we are going to practice and then record it in the choir room.  And each chair in the room is actually six feet plus having masks, so singing with masks is a bit hard, but it still works out.  Because of the coronavirus I’ve kind of gotten sick of being at home and like being in school a lot more than just staying at home.  Like, I want to stay at school, because you know home is much of the same old thing it has been for the past like seven months.  And I’ve been closer, I got a lot closer with some of my friends.  So, it’s kind of like a bonding experience, relationships got better.