As students began to arrive at Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech), on the morning of Oct. 23, 2024, they were met with the long-awaited presence of the Vitalant company buses, signaling Foothill Tech’s first semi-annual blood drive of the year. The blood drive was hosted by members of the BioScience Academy, and facilitated by their coordination with the Vitalant Blood Donation company, who together have been, with the help of Dragon’s commendable contribution, distributing life-saving blood to the community for years.
Signups had taken place the week prior, on Oct. 15 to 17, 2024, and any student of 16 years of age and older who met the minimum physical requirements could sign up. Students between age 16 and 17 required parental consent and all donors needed to meet minimum height and weight requirements along with a minimum hemoglobin content. Despite this, a total of 72 students signed up to go through with the donation.
On the day of the drive, students came to the front of the school at designated times ranging from 8:50 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. to check in with the Bioscience staff. Dragons were given a link to the short pretest questionnaire and access to the recommended water and snacks.
Max Breshears ‘26 expressed, immediately before his donation, “I feel fine. I’m not really nervous or anything, I’m excited to help.” Connor Birch-Dean ‘26, in a similar position, explained his reasons for donations, “I’m doing this today because I love blood donating … giving it to kids [who] need it more than I do,” Birch-Dean said.
The donations are truly put to good use. According to Vitalant’s website, “Because of [donors], life doesn’t stop. Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood.” Genna Naba, a Vitalant employee helping with the blood drive, explained “People don’t realize how much blood is used every day. It’s not just for traumatic events, it’s also for cancer treatment and for the platelets we use in the center. All of it gets used somewhere.” So from, “Monterey towards L.A.,” donated blood will change people’s lives.
After entering the trucks, donors were put through a quick assessment of their overall health, height, weight and general blood composition. They were then put in special chairs with elevated leg rests, and given stress balls and water. After a short sanitization, the blood drawing process began.
After the blood was drawn and the students were free to leave, donors were given Vitalant T-shirts for their donations and could show off their colorful arm bandages for the rest of the day. Gibson MacDougall ‘26, a Bioscience member, summed it up with, “At Bioscience we’re just trying to help in any way that we can. So [with] an opportunity like this with Vitalant, and letting kids donate blood, it’s going to help people.”
In total, after over half of those who signed up donated, 39 units, which as a whole has the ability to save up to 117 lives, were collected. In general, the Dragons showed their selflessness and character while undergoing a self-sacrificing, yet life-saving experience.
