With the tragic mass shooting in Las Vegas and the natural disasters that devastated many parts of the U.S., the need for blood has significantly increased. The blood drive held on October 3^rd in the library gave students and members of the community an opportunity to give back and help those likely facing some of the hardest challenges of their lives. The event was originally supposed to be a high school blood drive, but due to the reinforced need for blood by the Red Cross the event was opened up to members of the community to try and get more donors.

“We had such an overwhelming turnout with the community,” Family and Consumer Science teacher Monique Nielsen said. “We ended up having to turn away a lot of donors the last hour or two because we ran out of supplies. [That] isn’t a bad thing, it’s just [that] you feel bad for those that were looking forward to donating and [were] turned away for it.”

As the organizer of the event, Nielsen has been doing this at Highland ever since she started working here. There are usually two blood drives during a school year. The latter one is held during the Day of Service towards the end of the year. As time has passed, Nielsen says she’s seen an increase in the number of students participating in the event.

“A little bit,” junior Kate Hall said when asked if it was a scary experience getting her blood drawn. “I think [the recent events were] definitely a push for it, but I always kind of wanted to,” Hall said.  “I thought there [were] more reasons [to do it] now, [as] it would be more valuable to those people.”

The Red Cross had stations set up to conduct the pre-blood drawing interviews, there were tables set up for supplies, and cot beds were also set up for people to stay on while they got their blood drawn. There were also snacks that were given out as a little reward for people who donated blood. The group FCCLA that works with the family and consumer sciences classes, also had some members help out with organizing and running the event.

“One time in class she, [Nielsen], mentioned that she was helping out with the blood drive,” said junior Mimi Hanson. “So I was like I’ll just come over and help her out with it. That’s how I came to volunteer.”

Even though Hanson wanted to donate blood, she wasn’t able to because of the certain requirements that need to be met. One has to fill out a questionnaire and meet particular conditions like be 16 and over or have parental permission if you are under 18 before blood can be donated. The previous minimum age was 17, but since it has been lowered, Nielsen believes student participation has increased since a whole new group of people were able to participate.

With the nation recovering from very difficult events, Highland’s community gathered together to show their support in a time of need.