Principals and teachers from two Catholic secondary schools in Cobourg and Bowmanville have come together to create a manufacturing project capable of producing as many as 500 protective face shields for local health care workers.
The project is part of a collaboration between St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Cobourg and St. Stephen Catholic Secondary School in Bowmanville.
Both schools have manufacturing classrooms and, after the government closed schools and issued a call for personal protective equipment (PPE), the principals and technology teachers at both schools began to collaborate on a project to put the schools’ laser-cutter technology to use and produce PPE.
The group, which hopes to support local hospitals and long-term care homes in Peterborough, Northumberland, and Clarington, recently completed its first successful batch and distributed face shields to the staff at Extendicare long-term care home in Cobourg.
“Our school communities are very proud of the efforts our technological studies staff have made to support our greater community,” says St. Mary principal James Brake. “They heard the call and worked on a plan to meet it. It is amazing to see the technology we put into the hands of students be used in such a way.”
The project is moving to Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School in Peterborough to reduce travel time for those working on the equipment.
To maintain physical distancing, school staff working on the project have been meeting via video conference.
