By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
Looking to capture their fourth 6A title, Yukon High School Leadership students and Student Council members enlisted 144 donors for a spring blood drive.
The Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI) collected 118 usable units on March 31 inside the YHS auxiliary gym, 1777 S Yukon Parkway.
This was the third and final OBI blood drive at YHS for the 2022-23 school year. Theme was “Save the Humans: Give Blood.”
YHS Student Council officers Von Paul McWaters, Shanna Varghese and Kati Weeks – all seniors – discussed the success of last Friday’s spring blood drive.
“We’re raising donations for anyone who needs blood,” Von Paul said. “It’s important because each donation will help save three lives.
“We’ve been the top school in the state for getting donations and we want to keep that going.”
OBI has honored Yukon High three times since 2018 for being the highest-yielding 6A school in the Oklahoma-Arkansas-Texas region.
Although Shanna is graduating from YHS this spring, she plans to continue active participation in blood drive during college and beyond.
“Seeing the impact that (giving blood) has, I’m going to take on those opportunities to either help at the blood drive whether it’s community service or just being able to donate whenever I can,” Shanna said.
All donors make a difference, she said.
‘GREATLY APPRECIATED’
Kati agreed, adding, “Every donation is greatly appreciated by us and the blood recipients.”
Kati shared how she and fellow YHS student leaders enlisted people to donate blood.
“Throughout the community, we had gone to elementary schools and dropped off (donor) forms in the offices where we knew parents would be picking kids up,” she said. “We pushed out a lot on social media and on bulletin boards across the school all week.
“Last Friday, an amputee had come to talk to all of Mr. A’s classes and showed videos about how blood donation saved her life.”
“Mr. A” is Darryl Andrews, Yukon’s longtime Student Council and Leadership advisor.
Each YHS StuCo and Leadership Class member took three blood donor forms home to reach out to people they know and encourage them to give at Friday’s spring drive.
