Del Val’s National Honor Society hosted its annual Spring Blood Drive on March 19, 2024.

The event was a success with 43 total donors between Del Val staff, students and community members. 

“Out of those 43 total donors, we had 11 first time donors,” National Honors Society advisor Tracy Miceli said. “We had 16 type O donors, which is a new high and we collected a total of 47 units.” 

Although this blood drive did not have as many donors as the previous drive in the fall, it was running smoother and was more organized.

“During this blood drive, compared to the fall drive, the donors looked more relaxed as well as student helpers knowing their roles better,” NHS president Alyssa Montanez said.

Del Val’s National Honor Society has plans on implementing new and improved ideas for next year’s blood drives. A conflict that the spring blood drive runs into each year is that spring athletes are unable to donate, as they would then miss their practice or game. To combat this issue, Miceli plans on holding the event during either the first or second full week of March, before spring sports start. 

“We’re also going to do a better job about having the NHS students do a five minute talk to their gym classes about what the blood drive is,” Miceli said.

This would include information on age requirements, since 16-year-old donors need permission slips, and suggestions like drinking lots of water and eating high protein foods before donating.

“It was a really great event,” Miceli said. “We had no other issues in terms of things that could’ve gone wrong. I feel like that was very successful.”