Every two seconds, someone in America needs blood. The red liquid of life has a variety of uses—surgeries, cancer treatment, organ failure—and the list goes on. However, only around three percent of Americans donate blood each year, and as demand for blood increases, the donor supply isn’t enough. To spread awareness and save lives, the Fremd Student Council has partnered with a local organization called Versiti. Together, they host biannual blood drives, the next being this Friday – Mar. 21, 2025.
Being a donor comes with its fair share of requirements; however—certain height and weight thresholds must be satisfied, and donors must be over the age of sixteen and possess parental consent to donate. The event itself will be hosted at Fremd’s South Gym, where students and faculty can come during their free periods to participate.
Head Student Council sponsor Karisa Andrianopoulos summarizes the donation procedure.
“It’s a very relaxing process. A lot of people say it’s a lot easier than they imagined, ” Andrianopoulos said. “The Versiti workers are great at soothing students, and the needle isn’t in your arm for too long – it’s a quite short and real easy process.”
While students are excused for one full period, much of the time is allocated towards rest and relaxation prior to the donation procedure itself. The donation process itself takes around ten minutes, and students are provided with snacks and rest areas afterwards. Various incentives are also provided for students who sign-up and attend the drive, ranging from pencils to various Versiti apparel.
Student Council sponsor Kenneth Goettsche details additional incentives for blood donation.
“There’s various honor cords for donating enough blood. In fact, Versiti gives away honor cords if you give away six to eight hours of blood during Summer,” Goettsche said. “StuCo [Student Council] Exec Board handles the delegation of cords at Fremd.”
There are several opportunities for students to partner with Versiti themselves. One student this year decided to redesign the Blood Drive PowerPoint in exchange for volunteer hours. After all, helping the blood drive effort is personally rewarding and can satisfy various requirements at the same time, making it a win-win for many prospective donors.
Andrianopolous explains the reason behind hosting a Biannual Blood Drive.
“We want students to donate blood. If you don’t get them to start participating in high school, they’ll probably never donate,” Andrianpolous said. “If you can start that trend early with students, and they feel good about giving, they’ll continue to do so in the future.”
Ultimately, the goal of the blood drive is to save lives. It’s not for volunteer hours or to ease the possible boredom of school. Versiti will send you updates on how your blood is used to aid those in dire need. The goal is to help out wherever you can—so that one day whenever someone precious to you needs a blood donation—they’ll receive it from a fellow donor.
