The St. Louis High School hosted yet another blood drive successfully May 5, 2022, and a large number of students donated to The Versiti Blood Center of Michigan in the annual effort to help save lives.

The Versiti Blood Center pays the high school a visit at least twice a year to have students and staff contribute blood. Everyone has the choice of whether or not they want to donate, but many do it because they know that it can have an impact on somebody’s life.

“I’ve always had a personal thing against getting stuck with needles,” commented a student donor. “However, I felt I had to give it a try because it is important to the people who might need my blood and I needed to do something different.”

Those who donated had the privilege of having a few establishments such as McDonald’s contribute food for donors to keep up their strength before and after their donations. The food options varied from granola bars, and breakfast burritos to cookies and peanut butter crackers, all chosen to help replenish mineral levels in the donors’ blood.

Junior Maria Puga-Trevino provided her opinion on what donating felt like, saying, “It didn’t really hurt; my arm felt normal. All I could feel was the initial poke of when they are putting the needle in your arm and after that, nothing.”

Once donors finish donating their blood, they are directed to remain under the supervision of the current teacher monitoring everything for at least 15 minutes before they can go. The reason for this is to make sure they are feeling well before returning to class.