Due to a water pipe failure, the annual blood drive was shut down mid-way through on April 8, and has been rescheduled for May 30.
“In the morning, [janitor] Benji came up to us and said that the water wasn’t working so we might have to leave. Eventually, when Mr. Walker said that we were going to have to go home, we had to shut it down. This has never happened before,” said senior class president Kendall Henderson.
According to Henderson, the Leadership class, which runs the blood drive, was disappointed that it had to be stopped. “The leadership class was pretty upset because we had set pretty high goals for what we wanted to achieve, but we are pretty excited now that we have a blood bus,” said Henderson.
“I was a little worried about giving blood, but I wouldn’t mind having to make up the blood drive. It is a good experience and everyone is really professional,” said junior Katie Coates.
Instead of having the blood drive in the big gymnasium, as was previously planned, the students will be donating their blood in a large trailer near the big gym. “The way that it was described to me was it is like a big RV and in the RV they have little machines to take blood. So you walk in to the RV and get your blood taken. You enter in through one way and exit the other a completely different person,” said Leadership Advisor Dino Petrocco.
According to Petrocco, the only downside to using the bus instead of the gym is that it can not accommodate as many people.
Leadership had a target of 75-80 pints of blood, but only received 21-22 pints. In spite of the unexpected bump, Henderson is still optimistic about the drive and that the mark is still achievable. “It will be really fun and we are excited that we can reach our goal,” she said.
