A bag of blood can save 3 lives, donating is imperative. On Oct. 31, seniors Ellis Asbury, President of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), and Ruby Copeland, HOSA Communications Officer, managed a blood drive in collaboration with Mercy.
They both have taken Project Lead The Way (PLTW) science classes throughout high school. The Biomedical Innovation class requires students to complete a capstone project. Hosting a blood drive is one of these options, and each year the two students who pick that as their project are responsible for the event.
To complete their capstone requires 20 hours of work.
“And then you have to make a portfolio for it. So we’ve been taking pictures. We have tracked all of our hours that we’ve worked all these hours today count also,” Copeland said.
The girls have spent many lunches advertising the event and communicating with Mercy to coordinate details for the event.
“Everywhere in Biomedical Innovation and most everyone helping with the blood drive all want to go into the medical field. We get our volunteers through HOSA,” Copeland said.
A capstone project requires a sponsor to advise students. Dr. Jonathan Langenbacher, science teacher, helps with the more technical aspects of the project.
Donating blood is an important cause.
“One bag can save three lives, and it’s especially important when we have this big community at school, we can save so many lives. So many people, for example, get into crashes. Break their noses and need some s
ort of blood transfusion. I just think it’s important that not only is it educating the school on how easy it is to donate” Asbury said.
Asbury has made changes to the drive, such as consolidating the number of volunteers to ensure productivity of the students, as well as enough room for the medical staff to safely draw blood. The seniors have also increased the amount of advertising.
“It’s nice to see the Eureka community come together. We also had many parents come in, so many teachers, a bunch of students. It’s nice to see everyone come together. My mom came and donated, and she was like, ‘I did not expect this many people to come,’” Copeland said.
If you are interested in joining HOSA next year, reach out to the teacher sponsors, HOSA officers or check them out on Instagram @eureka.highschool.hosa.
