With the help of the American Red Cross, the high school held a blood drive on November 15 in the auxiliary gym to bring in donations and start people on a path of lifelong donation.
Wellness teacher Karin Clark organized the drive after teaching a blood unit in her anatomy class.
“As I was teaching them about blood and teaching about donation, I realized that we didn’t have a blood drive here,” Clark said.
Clark, who has been donating since she was in high school, wanted to give students the opportunity to give blood in a more safe and welcoming environment.

“[When you give blood], you kind of get this feeling [that] you’re doing something really good,” Clark said.
Clark went online to the Red Cross to schedule a blood drive and got a call “within five minutes” to help her set up the drive.
Many first-time donors participated in the drive, which was part of Clark’s goal to start a “lifelong donation process.”
First-time donor Abby Nyce heard about the drive through her involvement in the Interact club.
“I first volunteered to work the blood drive and then I saw that you could sign up so I got a sheet and I signed up,” Nyce said.
Along with helping someone who needs blood, Nyce decided to do the blood drive so she could find out her blood type.
“I don’t know my blood type and [donating] can help somebody,” Nyce said.
Junior Kathryn Yaglenski said she wanted to donate because there are so many people who are unable to do so.
“I would definitely recommend donating especially because there are so many people who can’t because of age requirements and physical illnesses,” Yaglenski said.
Clark said that while there are many people who cannot donate for a variety of reasons, she made sure there were other opportunities to help with the blood drive.
“I have got a whole slew of volunteers from Interact and National Honor Society that are volunteering time to help with registration and canteen and things so even if you can’t donate, you can still be with us, which is good,” Clark said.
Students signing up for the blood drive had the option between doing a traditional donation or doing a Power Red donation.
According to the Red Cross, red blood cells are more frequently needed and, during a Power Red donation, they take more red blood cells than they would with a regular donation. “Blood is drawn from one arm through an automated process. The machine separates and collects two units of red cells and then safely returns the remaining blood components, along with some saline, back to you through the same arm,” according to the Red Cross’ website.