HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Deep Run High School’s Team 1086 Blue Cheese Robotics team had its winning 2020 season cut short because of the coronavirus. However, the group quickly pivoted and found a way to re-channel efforts to help the community.
"We took the program that started as a bag sewing program for Legos and we turned that to making masks and then extended it to 3D printing the ear savers," team mentor Bridgette Westhoven said.
Their talents are now helping front-line medical personnel.
"Even though we are a part in social distancing, it just makes me personally feel more connected to everyone in my community,” team member Erica Linton said. “It makes me feel really good to know that what I'm doing is benefitting people."
In addition to 3D printed “ear savers,” which makes wearing protective masks more comfortable, they’ve also sewn together and distributed more than 3,000 masks.
"It's really cool to see the skills we build up during our time in robotics transitioning to helping people during a time of crisis,” team member Leo Bukalski said. “I think that there's such a big drive behind this whole initiative on our team. I think it's really great!"
Building that drive is saving lives… and Building Better Minds.
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