High school students make PPE face shields and donate to Scripps Encinitas

Three enterprising freshman high school students delivered 50 face shields to Dr Andrew Accardi, director of Emergency Department at Scripps Hospital in Encinitas on Sunday, June 14. The students developed a website to raise funds and created the face shields using a 3D printer.

The students, Andrew Zhang, Rishi Peddakama, Jerry Wu and Nicholas Genovese (who was not present at the delivery), are members of Young Leaders in Healthcare, a community-based youth group founded by Accardi and others. The group is supported by ScrippsHealth and San Dieguito Alliance.

Zhang stated “During this pandemic, our health professionals have been hard at work to protect the community, putting the lives of others first. In addition, I’m part of the YLHC Club that holds free meetings to provide high school students a first-hand experience of a hospital environment, hear from health care professionals and learn about health care careers. Because of this, I have always been very appreciative of the doctors of Scripps Memorial Encinitas and San Dieguito Alliance for Drug Free Youth, so I want to give back during these tough times.

“One of my good friends has a 3D-printer at home, so when we were younger, I would go to his house to print small toys, which built joyful memories for both of us. Recently, the idea for 3-D printing face shields has become more and more popular. This seemed to be a great project to pursue, not only evoking fun childhood memories but also providing a rare opportunity to give back to the dedicated doctors and nurses of Scripps Encinitas and other local hospitals. So, I formed a team with several friends to make this idea a reality. My friend Rishi Peddakama is a computer enthusiast who built and designed the fundraiser website (shield-our-heroes.glitch.me/index.html) to allow us to receive donations. Jerry Wu and Nicolas Genovese helped reach out to the community, posting our campaign on social media to spread the word of our campaign.” --News release