On Wednesday April 1, the Staples High School gymnasium was transformed into a blood drive center, and dozens of students came eager to help out the cause. The drive was set up by the Staples Key Club who partnered with the American Red Cross to orchestrate the drive.

Students and teachers poured in and out of the gym from 8:00 am-1:30 pm. Over 50 units of blood were collected from the drive, even though dozens of students were turned away.

The American Red Cross Website has many requirements for blood donation eligibility, some of which include weighing at least 110 pounds and not traveling to high-risk disease countries, any failure to meet this requirements disallows students from donating.

Amanda Odell ’16 was one of the many students who did not meet the rigorous requirements. “I couldn’t do it because I didn’t weigh enough. I was pretty disappointed because I was looking forward to helping the cause.”

Although some restrictions had to be enforced, many students were welcome and enthusiastic to schedule their appointment to donate. Even though, by Red Cross standards, a donor must be 16 years old, the law in the state of Connecticut requires a donor to be 17, which prevented even more students from being eligible.

Sarah Sherts ’18, a member of the Key Club was working at the drive signing people in, checking if they had appointments and getting their information before they donated blood. “We had a really good turnout, even though a lot of people missed their appointments.”

One of the donors, Vignesh Namasivayam ’16 stated that after donating the blood he was “lightheaded and tired, but it wasn’t bad at all.” He also reflected on his experience. “I was really nervous going into it, but it was for a good cause so that didn’t really matter.”