Throughout life individuals have dreams, ambitions, and achievements that they pursue. These ambitions could be to beat a video game or to earn a certain number of points in a game. Achievements may include not missing any school days or to earn a top grade in the class. A wide range of possibilities exist, because every person is different. One of my ambitions was to make my high school’s annual blood drive a success.
As winter turns to spring the National Honor Society at Carlyle High School is beginning to plan for and then work at the blood drive held by the school and the American Red Cross. One senior member of National Honor Society is in charge of all the planning, running, and coordinating of the blood drive. A junior member is also selected to help this senior member and to prepare for being in charge their senior year. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be in charge of the blood drive my senior year. This was a big job, so I choose Ashley, my younger sister and junior National Honor Society member, to help.
And so the work began. First I held a meeting with all the members of National Honor Society to pass out signup sheets and to explain who exactly could donate. Donators must be at least 16, have permission from a guardian until the age of 17, not have gotten piercings or tattoos within a certain time period, and not have visited certain parts of the world within the past year. The goal that was set between the Red Cross, our club sponsor, and me was then announced to the group. Our goal was to have 110 successful donators and to sign up about 175 possible donators. Each of the 18 members of National Honor Society also had the goal of signing up 10 people; whether it was students, teachers, parents, other family members, or people in the community. As the date of the blood drive drew closer the signup sheets were given to me so I could start filling in when people would like to donate. Also for the students who would like to donate we printed out blood drops to put their name and time on. Senior members, Ashley and I colored the blood drops red. We also placed flyers and posters throughout the community to spread the word of the blood drive that was to be held.
The National Honor Society members had two more responsibilities. First of all members were asked to either buy or make some kind of snack. This could be cookies, chips, or pretzels. They were also asked to bring in a bottle of soda for the group when we ate the pizza lunch. Secondly the members were asked to sign up to work at the blood drive. The options included snacks, set up, sign in, talking to the donors, clean up, and more.
On the day of the blood drive I got to school at 7:15 and was there until 3:30. I got there early to put up flyers, signs, and the blood drops. I also wanted to be there when the trucks arrived from the Red Cross. I worked the whole blood drive from 9 until 2. Then it was clean up.
The blood drive was pretty successful. We had fainters, those who chickened out, some who forgot they signed up and others that couldn’t for other reasons but the turnout was good. Although we didn’t reach the goal of 110 donors we can really close and the work of the National Honor members made me proud.
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