Frankenmuth

Also noteworthy was the Character Education class. It's difficult to explain, but the material covered was important and very much appropriate for the pandemic. It included lessons on knowing who to turn to for help, establishing short-term and long-term goals, and understanding ethical frameworks. Gabby's initial issues with virtual learning were all process-related; how to access each of the classes and know that you are reading all of the right material; how to turn in an assignment in PDF form if it was saved under Pages; etc. Mrs. Jacobs, EFR's Media Specialist, served at the beginning of the school year as the virtual mentor, helping us coordinate with fellow virtual student families, and we muddled through it together. Some of the Michigan Virtual elective classes (like Study Skills and Character Education) had middle school students taking it alongside high school students. Both Gabby and I were relieved when EFR allowed these Michigan Virtual electives to be taken as pass/fail classes (to alleviate the situation that middle school students were taking high school level classes, in some cases). While the virtual platform did a great job formatting the core classes, we know that Gabby did NOT spend as much time "in school" as she would have if she had been in person. As a parent with no formal teaching background, we also know that I am a poor substitute for the wonderful teachers at EFR. This is regret for us that Gabby will not have the opportunity to learn from and develop relationships with such great 7th grade teachers. Overall, this past year of virtual learning taught Ben and Gabby sacrifice, self-discipline, resilience, and grit. They were guided and supported by an amazing superintendent, hardworking and multitasking middle school and high school principals JoLynn Clark and Kristen Hecht, and numerous teachers and staff, with particular appreciation to the virtual liaisons. As with everything, it takes a village. W H E R E D O W E G O F R O M H E R E ? Now that all four of us are vaccinated, the kids have enjoyed "rejoining the world" with caution. Although Sean has been vaccinated, we know that the vaccine only works as well as the immune system that it is put in, and unfortunately for us, Sean's immune system (due to long-term chemotherapy) is not great. So, we have to maintain our vigilance as we reintegrate into society. This respite of a declining number of cases and the slowly growing number of vaccinated persons in our community gives us hope that it will be safe for both Ben and Gabby to return to in-person school next year. We will be sending the kids with their masks to in-person school in the fall. While they would benefit from everyone wearing a mask, we understand that it is not currently feasible to ask of all families NOT living with an immunocompromised loved one. We pray that enough people are vaccinated to create herd immunity for people like my husband. We are grateful for the understanding collaboration from our community and school system to keep the kids moving forward. And we remind ourselves that we don't "HAVE to" continue with these precautions. By God's Grace (and some pretty wonderful doctors and chemotherapy), we "GET to" maintain our safety measures because Sean is still here and with us, and he makes battling cancer look easy! ■ (989) 980-0067 rjsmeister@airadv.net Michigan Fire and Corporate Medical Education LLC CPR / AED and First Aid American Safety and Health Institute ROBERT J. SCHULTZ 40 Years of emergency response and education experience. Shouldn't your personnel learn how to save a life? Call for more information about hosting your company or group session! 12

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