This past Tuesday, Oratory held its first blood drive since the pandemic. Matthew Clark (School President) and I were in charge of helping Mr. Martin foster support for the drive as well as making sure everything went smoothly on the day of. The initial sign-up started out strong when the blood drive was first announced, with incentives such as a free $5 Dunkin Donuts gift card and a chance to miss out on class sparking interest in many. As days went by, however, support waned as many were either reluctant to sign up or had forgotten about the drive altogether. This made a continuing persistence to increase awareness of the drive crucial to meeting our target goal: 55 sign-ups. On the day before the blood drive, with the help of the student body, we were able to get 56 people to sign up to donate, barely meeting the target number.

On the day of the drive, Nick Battista, Matt Clark, Claude Dallemand, Matt DeAngelis, and I came in early to help the Red Cross workers set up their stations and to maintain an orderly procedure as an influx of people made their way to the Bain Gym starting at 8:00 am. From 10:30-1:20, the student body switched shifts, with Brandon Franks and Garrett Hall taking over for Nick Battista, Claude Dallemand, and Matt DeAngelis. Throughout the duration of the drive, there was always someone waiting in line to be called, which I saw as a good thing as it showed that we had enough sign-ups to keep the Red Cross workers busy. Matt Clark and I were checking people in during the entirety of the drive, and the other student council members were making sure that everything was being managed properly and kept an eye out in the rare case that someone felt lightheaded after donating; the last donation finished at about 12:50 pm. 

There were a total of 43 students who gave blood that day, with about six of those who signed up not showing up and the remaining seven being deferred due to factors such as high blood pressure or low hemoglobin levels. In all, I thought that the drive was pretty successful, and I hope that we get even more student donations for the next blood drive in the spring.