Spirited Mask Making

GIVING BACK

Face coverings became all the rage in March as a result of the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) began recommending cloth face coverings in public settings where social distancing measures are more difficult to maintain.

While stores and online vendors were running out of stock, FWCD students, faculty and staff took to their sewing machines to fill the void for families, friends and nonprofit organizations. The results: masks in a variety of fun colors, patterns and styles during these most uncertain times.

Karina Cedillo ’20 and Aidan Karsten ’21 both fashioned their own masks. “My family and I didn’t have enough masks to last us, and I realized that so many more people needed them, so my grandpa and I decided to make them together,” Cedillo said. Once she got going, Cedillo found that she could make about eight in a day. Her grandfather helped to cut the fabric, while she sewed them together. Cedillo’s masks included “pockets” in order for a coffee filter or paper towel to be placed within to serve as a filter.

Karsten made face coverings as his Eagle Scout Service project. “I knew how to sew, and I knew there was a need for masks,” Karsten said. By the middle of April, he had produced approximately 50 to donate to The Net, a local nonprofit organization that serves some of our city’s most marginalized – those experiencing homelessness, survivors of trafficking and refugees. The Net distributed the donated masks to many who could not social distance.

Feeling a bit nostalgic for school and wanting to express some school spirit, Karsten sewed a mask for Head of School Eric Lombardi out of the School’s beloved and longstanding plaidpatterned material.

To celebrate the Class of 2020, FWCD’s Alumni Association gifted a plaid mask to each person in the 100-member class. The masks were sewn with love and care by Upper School Health and Wellness Counselor Kathy Roemer, Upper School Spanish Teacher Molly Risewick, Middle School Theatre Teacher Cathy Gullo and FWCD Graphic Design Manager Lisa Koger. The masks were given to the students at the Class of 2020 Senior Car Parade on Friday, May 15, which would have been the class’s original graduation day.

Roemer’s and Risewick’s sewing did not stop with the senior class: Roemer made nearly 300 masks for Cook Children’s Medical Center and 50 for local Black Lives Matter protesters, and she is sending 25 to the Navajo Nations. Risewick fashioned 20 more using a more intricate pattern for nurses.

“I really resisted making the masks in the beginning, but one morning my sister called me from Newburgh, New York. She was making them and wanted to ask me questions,” Risewick said. “So I decided to download the pattern she was using and make some along with her. We FaceTimed for about three hours that morning while we made masks.

“When Lisa asked if I was willing to help with the plaid masks for the seniors, I was more than happy to,” Risewick continued. “It felt like it was something I could do for them since it was starting to look less and less likely that I would see them in the classroom again. Making something for the kids gave me a sense of connection to them.”

The mask-making venture was an activity that the community could rally behind because of its potential to touch the lives of others and it made the days feel purposeful.

Fort Worth Country Day believes that service to School, to the greater community and to humankind is a necessary component for the education of the whole student. Through age-appropriate, grade-level service learning opportunities, the School encourages all of its members to give of their time and talents through thought and deed.