On Thursday, Jan 24,  around 100 Loyola students donated blood. Every year Loyola hosts the Vitalant company to allow students the option to donate their blood.

While many students were very nervous going in, Vitalant, made sure everyone was happy and healthy, with the assortment of snacks and beverages afterward.

Vitalant receives about 1.8 million donations from multiple schools all over the world every year. One of the nurses said, “70 is a lot of kids to sign up to get their blood drawn, and that’s not even counting the walk ins” According to their statistics they usually receive 40-50 students each year. Although must students sign up, some get their blood drawn during a free and sign a waiver in the gym.

The process of giving blood can be a little bit challenging, and for some students very stressful. If you haven’t already signed up with the company you have to fill out a form and have a small physical taken. Then as you are waiting you have to fill out a small questionnaire.

Chavez Anyang, a student at Loyola Academy said he, “wasn’t really sure about the process of giving blood and the line was very long.” During the senior/junior lunch period the line for donating was out the gym door and the waiting area was packed with students nervous and excited to help others.

Although the whole process was stressful for some, others found donating to be relaxing and a break from the daily school routine. According to Ellie Halleron, donating blood, “is easy and less painful than I thought.”

Emily Yager also positively stated that she was excited to know that her blood would be helping people around the world.

Overall this years blood drive brought more students than usual and besides the few instances where students would pass out, the experience is something Loyola, as a community, should be proud of.