Blood, sweat, and tears are all said to play a role in the stressful lives of Scarsdale High School students. Yet, just this week, the phrase could be taken literally when the sophomore class hosted their annual blood drive. Both goodwill of the heart and the hallway advertising resulted in nearly fifty people donating their blood throughout the six-hour event.

While blood has always been vital to have a store of, this year, blood donations were needed more than ever.

“Since the pandemic, there has been a huge shortage of blood that has been donated, and we are running out,” sophomore class cabinet member Anika Kumar ’25 said.

In fact, on the same day of the blood drive, New York declared a blood shortage crisis. However, thanks to the good samaritans of SHS, an extra 49 pints of blood will be distributed across the tri-state area and save hundreds of lives.

This year’s event yielded 75 signups, with people volunteering their time and arms for the cause. Most of these volunteers were sophomores, but some upperclassmen and even a few adults participated in the event. Licensed doctors were at the scene to ensure everyone’s safety, with snacks provided for donors to eat afterward. In addition, the whole donation process, from blood tests to an oreo break, can be done in just one period, making it accessible for busy high schoolers.

A potential way to increase the number of donors could be for the junior or senior class to lead the blood drive instead of the sophomore class. Because the blood drive is a sophomore class event, most participants have been sophomores. However, since blood donations require participants to be sixteen, half the sophomores are not old enough to donate. Therefore, more participants could be expected if a grade with a higher number of eligible students leads the event, which is essential, especially now, in an age where so much blood is needed.

“It’s more than you think and if there’s such a big shortage, we need as much [blood] as we can [get]. The representative from the blood company was telling me that the blood drives hosted at schools… are a major source of blood,” sophomore class president Dani Naeem ’25 said. 

Regardless of the less-than-massive turnout, all the volunteers who did show up should be applauded for taking time out of their day to help strangers in need. As the blood drive occurs yearly, people’s lives are being aided directly. Hopefully, even more people will make the small sacrifice next year to potentially change someone’s life.