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MHS tech team members use 3D printer to make masks

The shortage of personal protective equipment for people on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to diligent efforts by individuals and organizations across the nation to step up and help out.

Locally, the FIRST Tech Challenge Team at Mathews High School is doing its part by making face shields for health care workers and first responders.

Team sponsor Larry Brown said that, although the team hasn’t met since early March, it is fortunate to have three team members who are part of the same home-schooled family, and that they happen to have a 3D printer.

With their own printer plus the team’s printer, Dawson, Daphne and Dillon Dowdy have been turning out components for the shields almost around the clock, said Brown. They’re able to print about a dozen shields a day, and as of Tuesday, the team, under the guidance of their father and team sponsor Dusty Dowdy, had made 135 shields and had delivered 101, with some delivered to the Middle Peninsula Medical Center and th...

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