North Central is one of the many schools in Indiana that runs a blood drive for the people in need. Through the blood drive, students can donate their own blood as long as they are healthy. The blood drive is run by NC math teacher Olivia Watson.
Watson advises students to drink lots of water 24 hours before. She also advises students to eat a hefty, healthy meal. Lastly she highlights the importance of telling teachers ahead of time that if participating in the blood drive.
“The blood drive has been around since before I was a student at North Central and the teacher who used to run it, Leslie Decker, was my freshman year English teacher. She encouraged me to join the senior class council when I was a senior and was put on for the blood drive and become the senior class secretary and it became cool to see how many NC students were willing to give up something so selfless,” Watson said.
Watson believes that healthy people should donate blood to the people that need it since there’s been a national blood shortage ever since COVID.
“You can’t go to the store and buy more blood,” Watson said. “The only way to give blood to people that need it in the hospital is if individuals choose to donate it. So yes, I believe it’s super important to donate when you’re young and can continue to donate for the rest of your life.”
Seniors Gianna Pierman and Ethan Torres decided to donate to the blood drive to give back to people in need of blood transfusions and people who are struggling to find donors.
“I honestly just wanted to get back to the people who need blood transfusions and things like that who are truly in need and can’t find donors,” Pierman said “It’s an easy way to help the community and people should help people.”
As yet another year of the blood drive ends, NC was able to help save many lives.
“One donation saves three lives,” Watson said. “With a goal of 300 donations, we’re saving almost 1,000 lives. The North Central blood drive alone can provide enough blood for the whole state. The whole state needs 900 units of blood for the whole day.”
Watson highlights the impact of even one person donating blood, demonstrating the importance of NC’s large scale drive.
