Student Council held their first blood drive of the school year last Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Manhattan High School North Gym. All individuals above the age of 16 were able to donate blood.

“The blood drive was really successful,” StuCo student-body treasurer Raisa Hossain, junior, said. “We had a lot of first time donors but most of their donations were successful since [the donors] did such a great job of staying hydrated before their donation.”

StuCo and its representatives connected with the American Red Cross to encourage as many people as possible to participate. In addition, the American Red Cross helped conduct these donations throughout the day. This semester’s event was a full school day, allowing numerous students and teachers to donate.

“StuCo’s responsibility is to find student donors,” StuCo President Allina Dougherty, senior, said. “A 1-pint donation can save three lives.”

Due to the national blood shortage, StuCo hoped for donation levels to be extremely high. In past years, there have been about 40 donors who signed up. However, turnout this year was even better. StuCo had 64 donors participate, including students, faculty and staff.

After the drive concluded last Thursday, the school had amassed 43 successful donations, which equates to nearly 130 lives saved.

StuCo plans on hosting their next blood drive sometime during second semester.