Maryn McKee and her friends are still hanging out during COVID-19. The only difference is they aren’t doing it in a basement, a garage or anywhere all that familiar - they’re doing it in the middle of the street.
Some of the neighbours have dubbed it “Quarantine Corner”. The kids, most of whom are Grade 12 students at Hapnot Collegiate, show up at the corner of Princess Boulevard and Poplar Avenue with lawn chairs, jackets and snacks in tow. The group sets up chairs at each corner of the intersection, 15-20 feet away from one another, and start to chat. The sessions can go on well past sunset.
“We’ll just sit on either corner of the street so we’re still social distancing. We’re far enough away from each other, 20 feet away, but we’re still getting to visit,” said McKee.
“It’s coping. It’s a way to cope,” added her mother Colleen.
Coping has been the name of the game for Flin Flon and area students who face a time of severe upheavals. Schools have been suspended for the foreseeable future, likely for the remainder of the school year.
For Chloe Reitlo, that means cancelling some of her most beloved activities, including music. A member of the school’s jazz band, choir and honour bands, Reitlo went down to Dauphin with the rest of the honour band group for a regional concert last month. The concert and a series of training sessions were cancelled a day early due to COVID-19 worries.
The news of school closing caught some students off guard.
“At first, it was kind of out of the blue. I also thought, ‘I hope it closes sooner so I don’t have to do my math test on Friday,’” Reitlo quipped.
McKee said she had an inkling classes at Hapnot would be cancelled when Saskatchewan suspended schools, making the move days before a full suspension of classes was announced in Manitoba.
“It kind of happened really fast when we found out school was going to be cancelled. Other provinces had cancelled school first, so we kind of expected it,” she said.
“I have some friends in Creighton. When we found out their school was cancelling, we kind of knew we were next.”
The students still learn through online programs. Teachers have maintained classes by hosting online classes and making course material available for students to finish at home.
“The teachers actually had a bit of time to prepare and manage our work. I think they kind of expected it to happen. We got packages from each class that we had for the next three weeks,” McKee said.
“We also have online Google classrooms that we check in on every day. There’s assignments posted on there as well.”
For Grade 12 students like McKee and Reitlo, the suspension of classes also means either a postponement or an outright cancellation of Grad festivities.
“The grad is a little sad. It’s Grade 12, you’ve been waiting so long and all of a sudden you think all this fundraising may be for nothing,” Reitlo said.
“I’ve already picked out my dress, I’ve got my grad date, but what can you do?”
“It’s disappointing. We’ve been working so hard for it and there’s been a lot of planning going into grad the last few months. I think it’s tough for all of us, for sure,” McKee said.
“We don’t really get to make all the memories that previous seniors got to make. It’s disappointing.”
Tentative plans to host some kind of event honouring graduates later this summer have been discussed, but nothing firm has been announced or agreed to. Any plans are subject to change depending on the disease and how it spreads.
Keeping up with news about the impact COVID-19 has made worldwide has proven to be confusing and overwhelming at times for students.
“I try to keep up with it a little bit, but it’s hard to keep track of everything. So much is going on,” Reitlo said.
“It’s almost like you’re out of touch. Everything’s been normal but everything that you know is kind of backwards now.”
In the meantime, the kids have learned how to deal with the new reality along with the adults.
“I’ve been watching lots of Netflix. I keep up with physical health a little bit, working out at home,” said McKee.
Colleen adds offhandedly, “I taught her how to clean the bathroom, too.”
