When Dan Krauss started his junior year at Council Rock South in September, he assumed it would end with the typical activities – prom, final exams and signing friends’ yearbooks before summer break.
But his current reality is far from typical.
Krauss’ alarm is set to go off every two hours during the night so that he can check on what’s unexpectedly become his sole companion during quarantine – a 3D printer.
On a daily basis, he and classmates Dean DiDomenico, Noah Necowitz and Dylan Weselovs are producing from their homes medical face shields, which are distributed by the Bucks County Emergency Operations Center to area hospitals in need of personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 outbreak.
“It’s an awesome project that we get a chance to do this, to be able to help out members of our community, the people who are risking their lives to keep everybody safe. It’s just a little part we can do to help give back to our community,” said Krauss.
Each student has one printer, which can produce two face shields every two hours. To date, they’ve delivered more than 500 to the EOC, which provides monetary compensation for any materials used.
The teens are utilizing skills learned in their honors engineering and robotics class, taught by Fred Bauer to Council Rock juniors and seniors.
“My class deals with the practical application of engineering. What we develop and what we do is not just made-up assignments. This is a perfect example and reinforces everything we’ve done during the school year,” he said.
According to Bauer, although the boys have concerns over graduation and other milestones that remain up in the air, their top priority is helping locals throughout the duration of COVID-19.
“I have a phenomenal honors engineering class,” he said. “Most of them wanted to be able to come into school and continue working, but obviously with the shutdown, that’s not something that we could do.”
Thanks to a donation by the Council Rock Educational Foundation, Bauer obtained 3D printers for the four students for home use. After developing a design that was approved by the EOC, they’ve been hard at work since school closed in March.
Production will continue as long as there’s a need, and as long as materials remain available.
“In our whole application of this and our first discussion with each other over the phone, we wanted to make sure that whatever we designed and whatever we’re producing does not take product away from the people who need it, such as the medical industry. We didn’t want to use anything that they would be using for something else,” Bauer said, explaining that the face shield portion is made from clear bookbinder covers. “We’ve now cleaned out all the Staples in the area.”
Currently, Bauer and his students, at the request of the EOC, are working to develop a special type of face mask to strengthen communication with deaf individuals.
“The deaf patients who are getting COVID-19 can’t read the lips of doctors because they’re wearing these hunkered-down masks to protect themselves and to protect their patients,” said Krauss. “So, we’re trying to develop a mask that has a clear plastic sheet in the middle of it that goes over your mouth so that the patient can read the lips of the doctors and nurses.”
In addition to making hundreds of face shields for the EOC, the group has taken requests from neighbors and nursing homes.
“It’s been rewarding. I’m getting calls from other people that are wanting them, too,” said Necowitz, a junior. “You can feel you’re making a difference.”
When the teens aren’t aiding in a global pandemic, they’re known as the NASA/HUNCH Team and have produced a number of items for NASA, including a radiation vest for those aboard the International Space Station.
“Everything they do has been extremely practical and functional and always looking to benefit someone else,” Bauer said. “This is all about helping people, and our students have been 100 percent interested in helping whoever we can help.”
Samantha Bambino can be reached at sbambino@newspapermediagroup.com
