On Thursday, Jan. 15, the Health Science Club helped run the second blood drive of the year. 52 people were able to donate. 

“The turnout was great,” junior class representative Jared Rich said. “At the end of the day, we had so many that there were some that didn’t have enough time to donate.”

Although blood drives aren’t usually an uncommon site to see in high schools, this year has to be a little different. There are concerns about COVID-19, and the Carter Blood Care has restrictions that we must follow. 

“We took more precautions than normal to make sure that those getting their blood drawn would not be exposed to the coronavirus,” junior class representative Cason Cox.

With that being said, many of the student workers believe that the work they put into it was the same. That will never change. 

“I don’t think it was truly any different than others that I’ve seen. I know that we worked really hard to set everything to let things run smoothly,” junior Analyse Thomas said. 

Speaking of student workers, there are several jobs a student can be. They can be a class runner and deliver people to the blood drive or escort them back to class. Another job was checking students in and out of the blood drive to keep track of everyone. There is even a snack supervisor. All of these jobs are important to keeping donors happy and healthy. 

“I was in charge of giving the donors snacks and drinks after they gave blood,” junior Shanna Casayuran said. “And I made sure that they were okay and weren’t going to pass out.”

Even though the blood drive ran mostly smooth, there was a disturbance that morning in the room next to the drive. The workers were able to move on from it happening and have a successful day. 

“First of all, this being my first time to donate everything was up for grabs,” Rich said. “I was very impressed with how we were able to work past the events taking place that morning in the classroom next door and still get as many donations as we did.”

There are many hopes for the next blood drive, and all the workers hope for them to come true. 

“I look forward to donating blood again, meeting more Carter Blood Care staff, and saving more lives,” Cox said.