The Blood Drive; Tackling the Mami Valley Blood Crisis

Here at Beavercreek High School, we have various volunteer opportunities provided to our students to help enrich the community and expand our community outreach to the nation. We encourage the students to participate in the blood drive, one of the many impactful activities. The blood drive occurs each year, and the student council runs it. I had the pleasure of speaking with Abby McCarty, a 12th grader who is the student council treasurer and the leader of the student council group that runs the blood drive. She stated, ¨We had about 146 students sign up, and 117 actually participated.¨ When I asked what the purpose of the blood drive each year was, Abby explained, ¨For the most part, it is just to help the community stock up on blood, but the past few years, we have been in a blood crisis within the Miami Valley. Any non-emergency surgeries have to be rescheduled because of the lack of blood. So this blood drive helps build up the community stock.¨ Abby also claimed that “we reached 110% of the donation goal.” Lastly, I asked Abby about the student body impact with the blood drive and she said, ¨With the student body, they are the donors in general, which in and of itself is a large impact, but the biggest way to get people to sign up for the blood drive is when students talk about it, which gets us a large donor pool.¨ Then I spoke with Vivian Martin, an 11th grader who participated in the blood drive, about her experience, and she stated ¨that all the student council members were very attentive and made sure that the kids had food. It was pretty fun but a little awkward because people talked to me as if I were a lifesaver for giving blood, and the only reason I did it was to get out of class.¨ I also spoke with Samantha Huddleston, a 12th grader who also participated in the blood drive, and she mentioned that, ¨it was cool and nice, and it gave me time to sit and relax during school. I got to get out of class, which was the main reason why I participated.¨ Overall, the blood drive was a large success for the students, and the community will benefit greatly because of the student council that was dedicated to this cause.