CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Catholic High School community has a reputation for helping others, especially during times of hardship. Now, the high school is responding to the local need to equip health care workers who are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic with personal protection equipment (PPE).
In late March, a student informed school staff that parents in the school community who are health care workers were in need of PPE to do their jobs safely. The student suggested CCHS join the fight against COVID-19 by printing 3D masks at the school.
Staff immediately responded to Principal Kurt Telford’s call for action.
Dr. Leo Maganares, CCHS engineering professor, and Joann Keane, photography and digital media instructor, have teamed up on the 3D printing project.
“Joann and I made different designs using AutoCAD and on March 25 we tested the first 3D printed models,” Maganares said.
“It takes approximately four hours to create one full set of face shield and facemask. We use two 3D printers for each set. It takes approximately three and a half hours to print a face shield and four hours to print a facemask,” he explained.
Several other faculty, staff and parents are helping them with the project. Health care workers who are members of the CCHS community will receive the PPE at the high school at a designated time.
“The production will be an ongoing process and the sets will be delivered in increments to meet the urgent needs of our community. We anticipate to reach 1,000 sets by the end of April,” Maganares said.
Grants from the CCHS Foundation and the CCHS Alumni Association will provide essential funding for the project and enable them to buy more 3D printers to produce 2,000 sets of PPE at a cost of $11.25 per set.
Maganares noted, “The purpose of our action has many angles. First, we are a Catholic school and we stand by our brothers and sisters in need. Second, we are educators, and we have a moral responsibility to show our students that CCHS is an active family in the community, and, last and foremost, as Americans we never quit.”
Maganares believes the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for students to get involved as citizens in their community. “Challenging times bring people closer and make them more responsible and considerate,” he said.
“I am grateful to the Charlotte Catholic Foundation and the Charlotte Catholic Alumni Association for their generosity,” Telford said. “Dr. Leo has quietly and without fanfare spent many hours setting up and monitoring the production process. It is an example of what the greater Catholic community does when there is a need.”
Added Keane, “As we celebrate the Year of St. Joseph, the builder, in some small way are we continuing his mission with 21st century tools to build, create and help our community, our family in faith.”
Pictured above: Dr. Leo Maganares, professor of engineering at CCHS in Charlotte, models one of the PPE sets that CCHS is producing to protect local health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter.
Want to help?
Donate to CCHS Foundation at https://www.cchsfoundation.org/donate or CCHS Alumni Association: https://bit.ly/3eDaKQk.Specify for CCHS PPE effort.
CHARLOTTE — Thousands of Catholic school students have been taking classes and completing assignments online since mid-March, when the Diocese of Charlotte’s 19 schools switched to remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In-school classes were suspended and extracurricular activities were canceled when Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order March 14 closing public schools across the state.
Online instruction continued until April 8, when schools closed as originally scheduled for the Easter holiday and spring break. After classes resume April 20, school leaders expect to continue online learning but will “monitor the evolving situation and consider the opportunity to resume normal classroom operations if public health restrictions are lifted or relaxed,” Interim Superintendent Debbie Mixer said.
The near-overnight conversion from in-school to virtual learning has gone well, school leaders say.
“We are a work in progress, but are very happy to report that teaching and learning have continued at Charlotte Catholic,” said Charlotte Catholic High School’s principal, Kurt Telford. “Our environment is very collaborative to begin with, and now even more so as we receive valuable feedback from faculty, staff, parents and our students. One parent recently commented that her students ‘haven’t missed a beat.’”
“Departments are working together to solve any issues that arise, collaborating as we go along to best serve our students so that they can continue to learn,” Telford added.
Schools have used online discussion boards, closed YouTube live classes, Google Meets, and their websites and social media to keep everyone connected.
Sacred Heart School in Salisbury has been sharing its morning assembly online via Facebook for staff, students and families. Each weekday assembly broadcast from the school gymnasium has included a Scripture reading, prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, song and announcements.
Father John Eckert, pastor of Sacred Heart Church, launched the school’s first remote morning assembly March 30.
“I am so glad to be with you all. I wish I could see you in person. A virtual ‘high five’ to you all,” Father Eckert said. He then reminded the students of the virtue they were last learning about at school: docility.
“Remember, ‘docility’ means you are willing to be taught, that you are willing to learn. We are in a new circumstance. We all have to be docile and continue to learn in new circumstances,” he told them.
Father Eckert also encouraged students to practice their favorite virtue of the year, magnanimity, saying: “It means ‘big soul, ready to do great things.’ Today when you are learning at home, be ready to practice some ‘magnanimity.’ Do some great things for your parents, your brothers, your sisters. Have a great day at home!”
On April 5, Sacred Heart parent Tanya Restar shared on the school’s Facebook page that her daughter, in participating in her first-grade online Zoom class, had “incorporated her lesson on learning time with ‘only 5 more minutes’! Thank you, she loves this time to see her friends and the best teachers!”
“Our students, teachers and families are doing a phenomenal job of adjusting to the remote learning platform and are finding new and creative ways to facilitate daily learning. This is a challenging time for us all, but our faith will sustain us!” Mixer said.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter