COVID-19 brings CSUB and community together

Students sew thousands of face masks during pandemic

By California State University, Bakersfield

April 16^th, 2020

Kern County is in need of n95 masks for its local healthcare workers due to COVID-19, and students at California State University, Bakersfield have skills they wanted to put to use.

Students, professors and community members alike put their talents and intelligence together to use for the greater good by assisting with making 5,000 substitute masks. They used .3 micron polypropylene harvested from HEPA air conditioner filters to insert in the cloth masks, which is the same material used in n95 masks.

“Entrepreneurs solve problems, and that’s particularly valuable in a crisis like this. It’s incredibly gratifying that so many of our students just want to solve problems and help people in the middle of a crisis. That problem-solving is probably going to save 10 lives,” said Dr. Jeremy Woods, a professor in the Business and Public Administration’s small business and entrepreneurship program.

COVID-19 brings CSUB and community together

Jason Monaco is a local entrepreneur and engineer. After a visit to Home Depot, where he quickly learned there were no masks on the shelves, he decided to spring into action with the air conditioner filters that were around.

Monaco sent a video to Dr. Woods, as they’ve worked together in the past on other business endeavors.

“The hope and goodwill of everyone coming together” is going to get us through this virus, Monaco said.

From there, Dr. Woods put out a call to students to see if any of them would like to assist in providing masks to the Centre for Neuro Skills (CNS) and coordinated with James Knowles, the CNS facility administrator.

Business administration student Iris Villalobos-Jauregui noticed fashion designers posting on social media that they were using their talents to make masks for hospitals in need, too. When Dr. Woods called her to ask about it, she felt like it was her calling.

“I feel amazing that I’m doing something with the skills that I have,” said Villalobos-Jauregui.

Some students, like Jasmine Ashraf, a senior in psychology, had never touched a sewing machine in their life, but still wanted to lend a hand.

“I used YouTube videos to help me identify the different components of the machine and to aid me in setting it up. Then, I practiced a bit on some spare fabric I had,” said Ashraf.

The Centre for Neuro Skills is providing all of the materials, and Dr. Woods and two other donors are putting up over $1,000 of their money for the students who make the most masks in phase one of the project. The goal is to encourage more students to get involved and to help with financial situations students might be facing due to COVID-19.

Phase one of mask-making offered $400 to the student who made the most masks, $300 for second place, $200 for third place, and $100 each for fourth and fifth place. The first phase of delivery of masks took place on Monday, April 13. Phase two of the project will feature additional prize money as well.

The winners of phase one were:

1st Place: Dusty Rose Forty (300 masks completed and delivered)
2nd Place: Daniela Miramontes (246)
3rd Place: Sari Meza (235)
4th Place: Zoya Shaneen (200)
5th Place: Jasmine Ashraf (200)

“It has been very refreshing to see a community pull together in this time of need. Working with Dr. Jeremy Woods and his amazing team of students and alumni has been a very inspiring experience. Their enthusiasm and passion for this project has definitely been a sight to see,” said Knowles.

Now, there are more than 40 students, friends of students and a few faculty members are involved in the project. They made over 2,400 masks in phase one of the project and are currently working on making another 1,000+ for phase two.

“I think regardless of our situation, of our circumstances, [it’s important] to still have something that inspires you to get up in the morning and do something for someone else,” Villalobos-Jauregui said.