Photo credit: Laila Boodell

Students wait outside the Zeller Student Center to donate blood. “A lot of times my life can get really busy,” History teacher Meg Shirk said. “But, blood donation is just such a easy way to spend a half hour of your day giving back.”

Over the past few weeks, flyers with the phrase, “Let’s save lives!” in bold, red letters were posted around Archer, advertising the Service Squads’ annual Red Cross blood drive. The blood drive was hosted Thursday, April 10, in the Zeller Student Center, where faculty, staff and students aged 16 and up were able to donate their blood to the Red Cross.

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, one blood donation has the potential to save three lives. Service Squad leader Meg Shirk has organized the blood drive every year for the past six years. This year, the blood drive surpassed their goal of 35 donations, with a total of 37 donors.

“The hardest and most important part of putting the blood drive together is getting appointments, and there’s a lot of complexity with that,” Shirk said. “This year, I actually put together a wait list, which I had never done before. [It] served to be really handy because I was able to pull students that were interested last minute to fill those slots that opened up instead of turning them away.”

Junior Serenity Jones said she felt compelled to donate for those in need and plans to donate again in the future.

“You can help with cancer patients or other younger kids that might need blood, that are dealing with health issues and stuff like that,” Jones said. “So it’s good that we’re able, while we can, to give blood to others and help out the community in general.”

Olive Poulos (’25) donated her blood for the first time this year. She said the blood drive is important because it helps patients who need transfusions and spreads awareness about the blood shortage. The active cold and flu season, as well as weather, prevent blood donors from being able to donate and help patients, especially those with the O negative blood type.

“Spreading awareness about blood drives in general [is important], especially students seeing that. I feel a lot of younger students have never seen a blood drive before and don’t really know about it,” Poulos said. “That’s good to spread the message and make people more aware so that in the future they know.”

Shirk said donating is a great way to give back to the Red Cross when they are struggling with blood volume. She urged students to step outside of their comfort zone and donate, especially when Archer provides an accessible opportunity to do so.

“Oftentimes students feel the weight of the world, and blood donation is a really great way to give back,” Shirk said. “If there is, let’s say, a school shooting or violence that happens, we know that our blood can be going to the people involved, so we can have a direct impact on local events that are happening. It’s an opportunity for young people to feel like they can make an immediate difference.”

Poulos said the experience was not as scary as she expected; instead, it was quick and easy.

“I thought, ‘Why not? I have blood,” Poulos said. “And I’m able to give it, so I should.”