Alav Madani

Senior Kimberly Garcia holds senior Leyla Vazquez's hand as she donates blood for the blood drive on Sept. 19. Garcia later donated plasma to the blood drive herself.

The Interact Club and Bellaire Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) hosted their Bi-Annual Blood Drive in partnership with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center and Fellowship of Christian Athletes all school day on Sept. 19 in Room 1609.

Donors must be 16 years of age with parental consent or 17 and above to donate blood or plasma. Upon checking into the room and waiting in the designated seating area, donors were asked confirmation questions by the Gulf Coast staff before being seated to draw.

Senior and Interact Club vice president Siara Robles said this was the seventh blood drive she has participated in since her freshman year. Robles said that this year's turnout was substantial, as 60 signups and around 50 successful donations came out of this year's drive.

"This year, we've definitely gotten a lot more people because we partnered with FCA,” Robles said. "We partnered with [FCA] to get them to promote our blood drive and since I go to the club, I saw how many people they had, and was like, well, it could be worth a shot to ask.”

Alav Madani

Junior Zaylee Bargas discusses pre and post-draw procedures with the nursing staff. It was Bargas' first time donating blood for the school.

Junior Arisleydi Cortez said she found this year's blood drive special since she is graduating early and because she found out her blood type, group O, is the universal donor.

"Obviously, there's always some type of nerves like, ‘Oh, what happens if it hurts, what happens if this, all the what-ifs go through your mind," Cortez said. "But once that needle goes in, everything goes away."

For more information on the next blood drive, contact the sponsor of Interact Club at [email protected] or the president of Interact club, senior Brissia Fernandez at [email protected].