W.F. West High School held its first blood drive in four years on Tuesday in the high school’s wrestling room, thanks to the work of three sophomores.
Henry Etue, Bryce Kuykendall and Ellie Clinton, all 16 years old, organized the event as part of their involvement with SkillsUSA, an extracurricular activity that promotes a skilled workforce. While W.F. West High School had held blood drives in the past, the school had not held a drive since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The three students began organizing the blood drive in January as an entry in a SkillsUSA competition held last week in Tacoma. According to Etue, the U.S. is currently in a nationwide blood crisis.
“Blood is a huge necessity,” Etue said.
Kuykendall said the students chose Tuesday for the blood drive because they wanted to allow community members to donate blood by providing an opportunity for donations after school hours. In speaking to Ellie Wagner, a Red Cross representative, the three students decided Tuesday would be the best day to hold the drive.
“In selecting a date for the blood drive, we needed to find a day that would work for the Red Cross and would work for us,” Clinton said.
To prepare for the event, the students met regularly. According to Clinton, the students met with Wagner three times over Zoom. She also said there was a period of about two weeks where the three of them met every day after school.
After weeks of planning, the students’ hard work has paid off. At the SkillsUSA competition last week, the three placed second in the community service portion of the competition. As part of the competition, the students gave a presentation on their planning for the blood drive.
Beyond their extracurricular achievements, the students were able to raise a significant amount of blood for the Red Cross, having signed up 51 people to donate blood in addition to walk-ins, including students, staff and teachers.
In addition to Etue, Kuykendall and Clinton, other students also helped put on the blood drive. Students in W.F. West High School’s leadership class assisted their three peers by helping with signing in donors as they came to give blood.
