Back to School 2020

Fontbonne Hall Academy
Brooklyn
When Michal Ashkenazy, Science Department
Chair at Fontbonne Hall Academy, saw
the pleas on television for Personal Preventive
Equipment at the beginning of the pandemic,
she and her husband knew they wanted to help
and came up with the idea to create and donate
personal protective equipment to (PPE) for first
responders. Ashkenazy contacted the principal
of the all-girls high school in Bay Ridge,
Mary Ann Spicijaric, who immediately gave her they had great difficulty obtaining this specific
the green light to use the school’s equipment material. Williams, who is the manager of the
for the cause. “It is wonderful to see our faculty
modeling the Mission and charism of the signs of different face masks and face shields
school’s FabLab, spent weeks researching de-
Sisters of St. Joseph by “responding to the that could be made using the school’s 3D printer
but to no avail as the required material could
needs of our time”. I am so proud of them and
so grateful for what they are doing to help the not be obtained.
doctors and nurses that are fighting this terrible With a fierce drive to complete this project,
disease,” Spicijaric said.
Ashkenazy sought out other options and on
To assist her with this passion project, Ashkenazy
also enlisted the help of her daughter mat) files of face shields on the NYU website
April 3 she found DXF (Drawing eXchange For-
and Fontbonne Hall science teachers, Tania that could be created on the school’s equipment.
A face shield is designed to cover the
Rivera and Adam Williams.At the start of their
work, the team encountered one of several entire face with no skin exposed. Rivera, who
roadblocks: the school’s FabLab had a 3D printer
that could only utilize certain material and explained that Fontbonne has a Full
has expertise with the laser-cutter machines,
Spectrum
August 29, 2020 | TheTablet.org | Back to School C45
to be able to help our first responders as they
battle against the virus. As scientists, we can
all appreciate how very important it is to have
proper PPE during a time of crisis,” said Ashkenazy.
With materials finally in hand, they began
production immediately. However, quickly into
production the team saw that the laser cutting
was singeing the thin plastic sheets and coating
it with a brown film and had to come up with
an alternative production method.
RetinaEngrave laser-cutter, which reads DXF
Ultimately, a successful production line was
files to create quick, high quality, and cost-efficient
2D models. Unfortunately, the team
set up (while still maintaining safe social distancing):
the mask was cut, vigorously wiped,
encountered another dead end when the necessary
raw materials were sold out all over the
and then assembled. The team churned out a
total of 120 face shields in two days to donate
country. Forging on, they decided to improvise;
to an area healthcare and are awaiting a delivery
of more supplies to continue production
instead of looking outward for supplies, the
team took inventory of their internal supplies
within the week. “ This is just our small way of
and devised their own face shield. The end result
was made using clear plastic binding cov-
being able to express our appreciation, respect,
and admiration for all of the first responders
ers and large rubber bands from the school’s
who are working tirelessly to save lives,” said
main office.
Ashkenazy.
Ready to start production, the team met at
the school on April 6 determined to create the
supplies to donate to first responders. “We are
feeling extremely grateful for this opportunity
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