National Honor Society Sucks Blood
Mitchell Patterson(12) slaps a high five to Justin Griego(12) while giving their blood to the Penrose Medical Center for patients.
On Tuesday Jan. 7, Manitou’s National Honors Society (NHS) hosted the first blood drive in MSHS’s recent history. About 40 people risked being strapped to a chair and having their blood extracted in pints, but no persons were seriously harmed.
“There were a couple of people who were just a little bit woozy after, but we didn’t have anyone faint,” said Jaclyn Roberson, advisor of NHS.
Although it had a fairly large turnout, NHS students are hoping to better educate the students and staff in the myths and qualifications of blood donation, so that they will accumulate a bigger group next time around.
To donate, students had to be at least 16 years old with a valid driver’s licence and have a signed waiver if under 18. Only five or six people were turned away from donation, for things like low iron content, thin veins, and tattoos or piercings within the past year (though the latter has more leeway).
The main organizer of the event, senior Jenae Luellen was one of these select few.
“I wasn’t able to, I was sick and underweight and super sad… but you can’t really fake your weight,” said Luellen.
Though many lives will now be saved thanks to student’s contributions, National Honors Society is looking forward to bigger and better things.
“[We’re] trying to do something… more grassroots where we’re organizing everything, and that’s kind of a pie-in-the-sky goal… where we’re.. making a huge influence in the community and we’re doing all the nuts and bolts of it,” said Roberson.
Some of the future ideas that are currently being bounced around include a canned food drive and a parent’s night out, where for a donation, parents can leave their students at the school.
“A lot of other schools have events every couple of months… so I’d really hope Manitou would be able to do that, because it’s a really awesome thing,” said Luellen.
By Hannah Tooley
Photography by Katelinn Root
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Jamie DeVriend • Jan 13, 2014 at 3:43 pm
This article made me grin in the first paragraph for the humor, but my smile got bigger when I saw how many people gave of themselves for others! Donating blood saves so many lives, and it really doesn’t require a lot of time, just an hour and a pint!