By Julia Poliskey
staff writer

On Thursday, Apr 28, students donated blood at the National Honor Society Blood Drive taking place DHS. This year, there were more donors than usual.

That is due to a law that passed in Jan that gives 16 year old students permission to donate blood with parental consent. Previously, students had to be at least 17. Michigan was the 40th state to allow this.

According to JoAnn Glynn, Donor Relations Specialist for Michigan Blood, this law came about because of a situation involving a state Senator.

“When Michigan Senator Wayne Kuiper’s 16 year old daughter, Jenna, tried to donate at her high school blood drive and was denied due to her age, Jenna told her dad how disappointed she was and the process began from there,” Glynn said.

Sixteen year olds at DHS are also happy about the new law. Sophomore Erika Ryan donated blood for the first time at the most recent blood drive.

“I think [the new law] is cool,” Ryan said. “I was planning on doing it when I was 17 but when I heard you could donate at 16 I was really excited.”

Despite the hour and a half process of going through all of the paperwork and making sure her blood had a sufficient amount of iron in it, Ryan is planning on donating again.

“It’s something small that you can do to save three lives,” she said.

Sophomore David Curry feels the same way.

“I feel accomplished about saving someone’s life,” Curry said.

Overall, 79 pints were donated, which equates to about 250 lives being saved.