LONG BEACH, CA – On Wednesday, December 7, the American Red Cross organization made its way to WIlson High School to host the yearly blood drive.

The Red Cross organization began donation blood February 4, 1941, and has been active since. Many students around the campus gathered to be a part of this life saving event.

The blood drive is nothing new, especially not in high school locations. Red Cross representative Evelyn Gonzalez said that high schools are the best places to come because they can get the most donations.

“Let’s say you go to a high school and there are 600 students, at the least we get 100 students saving other people’s lives,” Gonzalez said.

Each individual who takes part in the blood drive donates one pint, which is equivalent to 16 oz. At Wednesday’s blood drive, students and staff donated 73 pints of blood, beating the goal of 54 pints.

Alexis Herrera, a junior, was one of the many students on campus to donate blood. This was Herrera’s first time giving blood.

“At first I was really nervous and anxious, but when the process started it really wasn’t that bad,” Herrera said.

She explained that she enjoyed it so much that if her blood is good enough to save someone’s life, she’ll be participating in upcoming blood drives again.

With this year’s blood drive being highly successful, it is more than likely that this fundraiser will be back in the next school year.