On a recent spring day, a few Oahu residents casually walk under bunches of trees, however every pedestrian’s face is hidden behind a face mask and every so often you may see a group of neighbors talking six feet apart.

Due to the new rule in the state of Hawaii, residents must now cover their faces in public settings. Students at Mid-Pacific have been taking action and making their own face masks to help benefit their communities.

“I have been having a lot of time to attempt new things since I am stuck at home. One day I decided to make masks to contribute and give back to my community,” said freshman Reese McDonald.

McDonald does not know exactly how many masks she has made, but has been donating her masks to her mother’s co-workers.

“I started making them because I knew how to sew and I had a lot of free time over break,” said sophomore Maiya Kuwana.

Kuwana has sewn two masks so far, keeping one for herself and giving the other to a friend.

Another reason for sewing masks is because of other families needing facial coverage and others worrying about not having enough face masks she said.

Yearbook and Tech Explorations teacher Lori Nishiguchi is working on a project with her students to make their own face masks.

“I have been very busy with the student projects; the mask project was a result of our current situation.” said Nishiguchi.

Since students do not have access to class essentials, a design challenge was assigned.

“Now that I am accustomed to the procedure it has gotten simpler for me and I am hoping to create more over the weekends,” said McDonald.

Kuwana said she used extra fabric around her home and colored elastics to make her face mask. She did the blow test, a procedure in attempting to blow out a flame with your mask on to ensure that they are safe to use outside of her home.

“Any opportunity I get the chance to give back to my community, I will endeavor and set aside to give back,” said McDonald.