PHOTO COURTESY/ Clement Chen
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many TCHS students made efforts to aid healthcare workers with the lack of supplies, such as Robotics and Key Club.
Robotics partnered up with USC Keck School of Medicine to work toward their goal to distribute 6,000 masks to local hospitals. The team called upon community members with 3D printers at home to print masks they designed.
Volunteers drop off the completed masks at a local storage point, where a member would collect the prints and bring them to a hospital to maintain social distancing measures.
To make up for filament costs, Robotics decided to refund volunteers by providing one kilogram of filament per kilogram of masks donated. They started a GoFundMe page to collect donations from those who wanted to help but did not have a 3D printer to fund the filaments.
“People really stepped up and came into their roles naturally, and found their own way to make a meaningful contribution,” junior Max Bhatti said. “I hope that students see that even when things are not going as planned, there are always opportunities to do something fun and meaningful that will benefit you and the people around you.”
Key Club also began a project to craft masks out of cotton T-shirts to donate to Monterey Park Hospital and San Gabriel Valley Hospital. Members created masks for the club in exchange for community service hours. The project was first introduced during a club meeting on May 9 and ended on May 29.
“We’re always working toward improving our community and helping members explore new ways to complete their service hours,” Vice President Executive of Key Club, sophomore Sophia Diep said. “People who wanted to help their community during this time will have the opportunity to, despite the quarantine.”