In 2016, more students signed up to give blood at Riverbend than ever before according to Ms. Esposito, history teacher. While this was true, many were turned away.  “Because of the zika virus, students who traveled south weren’t able to [donate],” said Esposito. While this news was trifling, safety comes first.

With such a heavy turnout, still, last years 35 pints of blood still outbeats this year’s 25. Thanks to the extremely productive elected classmates that went around advertising for the blood drive, we still gave as much as we could. Hopefully next year, more students will be able participate without any stopping points. It’s important that each student knows that a lot of the people who help the Red Cross with their blood drives, are volunteers. They do their jobs because millions of people everyday need blood. When it came to people trying to help, many were there. As giving blood can terrify some people, what students should remember when giving is that they could be saving a life. There’s nothing better than that sort of satisfaction.