12-Year Old Prints Life-Saving Shields

A student at South Middle School in Arlington Heights, Chicago, showed the world how digital innovations can be used to help reduce the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. Twelve-year-old Vince Radlicz morphed his 3D printer into a plastic face shield-maker in March, spurred by the needs of a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

As coronavirus cases continued to increase, Radlicz didn’t rest until hundreds of his creations had been delivered to hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities across Chicago and its suburbs free of charge.

“Some of them went as far as California. It kind of snowballed after we first started doing it,” said Vince. He added that it felt amazing to help people just by doing something he loves, reported Marisa Sloan at Northwestern University of September 16, 2020.