Posters and t-shirts fill the halls of Texas High School, featuring a pickle theme that represents the importance of donating blood.
From March 31-Apr. 1, 2026, health science teachers Joe Nolen and Stacey Hensley organized the last blood drive of the year.
“I’m what they call the Drive Chairman,” Nolen said. “I’m responsible for getting all the sign-ups and running everything, [as well as] coordinating all the students as they come through.”
To prepare for the blood drive, Nolen and the Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) club members helped the LifeShare representatives.
“We start preparing for the blood drive about a half week ahead of the scheduled [day], and we work [during] lunches to do sign-ups,” Nolen said. “We [go] around all the tables in the cafeteria, [ask students] if they’d like to donate and get them signed up on the schedule.”
Blood drives play a vital role in the health of the community because they provide the majority of the blood allotted for patients with complications, whether they undergo surgery or require blood transfusions for cancer treatment.
“One donation could help multiple people,” Hensley said. “It’s very giving of yourself, [and] it’s helpful to others [because it] has a kind of a ripple effect in the community.”
Blood donations include not only whole blood but plasma, platelets and double blood cells.
“We did have a little bit of a surprise on the first day. The donors have the option of donating whole blood, which is [a] typical blood donation, but they can also do a specialty donation,” Nolen said. “On [our] first day, we had many more plasma donations than we were expecting, [so we] had to get more equipment.”
Though previously hosted in the Sullivan Performing Arts Center lobby, the completed construction of the CTE 1 building allowed for more space for the event to be held in the Health Science Lab Room.
“It kind of presented [as] a challenge because we had to bring all the equipment upstairs,” Hensley said. “All in all, it is a really good open space [because] we’re able to be in the entire process [and] be in the center of it [to] make sure things are going good.”
Many students at Texas High recognize the importance and actively donate multiple times per year.
“[I will continue donating] because I love helping others and it’s actually good for the body,” junior Cayden Pettigrew said. “I started donating because I found out I have O+, so I felt I [had] a duty that God has gifted me this type to help others with it.”
After a student donates blood, the staff monitors the student for about 20 minutes because of the possibility of a vasovagal reaction, which causes dizziness and lightheadedness.
“[Donating] went well, but I did have a bad reaction to it,” sophomore Callee Childs said. “I think that was more my fault than their fault.”
For the past 10 years, Texas High has partnered with LifeShare, providing gifts to those who donate.
“LifeShare always provides a gift for donation. This time, we have t-shirts that have dill pickles on them [that say] ‘blood donors are a big dill’,” Hensley said. “They try to offer incentives that the students would want, to get them to donate.”
With a great number of students donating during this drive, HOSA members and sponsors hope for more student participation in upcoming years.
“We had a really good turnout, and I hope that it just grows more and more,” Hensley said. “[I also hope] that students become aware of how important it is to donate blood, and it starts at this age, so then they’ll continue to donate throughout life.”
