Grant Dillard
Staff Writer
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Turning a hobby to helpful practice, senior Kendall Clark utilizes her extended time at home to sew masks for the medical community in Medina, Tennessee.
Nationwide, there is a shortage of personal protective equipment because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clark has friends working in the medical field who are lacking equipment, and when Clark learned of their shortage, she decided to sew masks for them.
“I saw on a quilting Facebook page where ladies were sewing these masks to give to healthcare professionals in their areas,” Clark said. “I thought that I could use some of my scrap fabrics to make masks for some of my friends.”
Clark did research on the best fabrics to use for medical masks and pulled options from her own fabric stock. With shortages across stores, it was difficult for Clark to find elastic, so she substituted with thin elastic headbands from the Dollar Tree to create ear loops.
Clark said the process of sewing masks is simple.
“There are downloadable templates online that you can print out,” Clark said. “You then just cut the fabric using the stencil, and then you stitch the sides together. I added a fabric on the inside of mine that is supposed to help in the protection against the COVID-19 fabric, so that did add a few extra steps.”
When Clark was growing up, she loved quilts and wanted to sew her own. She fell in love with sewing and mostly creates quilts.
Like other students, Clark was taken aback by the news of classes moving online for the remainder of the semester. Since this was her last semester, Clark was especially upset by the news.
“I understood the need to take such measures, but I had looked forward to these final months on campus with my classmates,” Clark said.
Clark was also concerned about her access to the internet.
“Where my family lives, we cannot get internet, so I have had to find creative ways to get access through mobile hotspot,” Clark said.
Clark has been using her parents’ internet hotspot to keep up with school assignments. When the hotspots run out, she goes to other people’s houses to use their internet.
To keep track of her schoolwork, Clark spends Sundays writing down due dates and preparing for the week’s assignments, which she turns in when she gets internet access.
Clark also has an on-campus job in the biology department. Though she’s now unable to work, she still gets paid because she is a Federal Work-Study Program recipient, which she said is really helpful during this time so she can continue to pay her bills.
Besides sewing masks and keeping up with school assignments, Clark spends her time checking in on her family’s farm animals. On rainy days, Clark likes to fill the time by watching movies.
Clark’s advice to other students who are still adjusting to working from home is to not wait until the last minute so that they don’t have to worry about assignments later.
“Remember to check on your friends and stay in contact,” Clark said. “Although we may not be together on campus, we are still Murray [State]. Go Racers.”
