Elle Rotter

Manning the check-in table with junior and fellow National Honors Society (NHS) member Rachel Livak, senior and President of NHS Nikita Bhaskar, prepare for more incoming blood donors. This was Bhaskar’s first time donating blood. “When I signed up, I was excited to be able to donate blood. But, the day of, I was getting more nervous as my time slot came. But, all the volunteers and my friends were supportive and keeping everyone distracted, so it was really easy [and] painless,” Bhaskar said.

With Bad Blood by Taylor Swift playing from English teacher Erin Fluchel’s blood playlist, about 63 students and a few adults lined up to donate blood. Students were patient as they awaited their turn as they awaited their chance to make a donation, save up to three lives and learn their blood type.

“One of the things that propelled me to [donate] was I wanted to know my blood type. I also thought, instead of [having blood drawn for] getting tested, [this was to] help people,” senior Jake Rushing said.

Donors had to be 16 years of age and could not have been exposed to diseases that might impact the purity of their blood. Some students that had traveled out of the country for spring break were ineligible.

“It was a very formal and heavily screened process, which impressed me. They wanted to know all your medical history and where I’d been. I know a lot of people didn’t do it because they had been to tropical areas where malaria was [more prevalent],” Senior Carson Mills said.

National Honors Society (NHS) and Fluchel organized the event, the first at Parkway West High in around 20 years. Fluchel was excited with 61 units of blood being donated, reaching 133% of the clubs goal.

“Not only are blood donations needed in our community right now, but we were also really eager to get a new generation of students donating. Most American donors are sort of [in the] Baby Boomer generation. So, we [get] the next generation of people regularly donating, and [I] was excited,” Fluchel said.

The donated blood will be spun into more usable plasma units, platelets and red blood cells. These units have different uses, including transfusions for cancer patients, people with anemia, and people suffering from blood diseases. Because raised over 27 units of blood, a grant of $250 will be given to the school, along with $1 for every unit over the original 27 raised. Volunteers supported students while they donated.

“It was a really good day for me because I was able to see all of the volunteers let their personalities shine. Senior NHS members started choreographing dances and dancing in front of everyone donating blood to distract them. No one asked them to do that. I loved seeing that because I feel like sometimes NHS events have strict instructions for volunteers, but this one was pretty loose, and the NHS workers were able to let their personalit[ies] shine,” Bhaskar said.