The Pulaski County High School Red Cross Club has been hard at work this year, hosting multiple events and participating in school activities. The most recent event was a blood drive, held at school, that saw students and staff members donating lifesaving blood for the American Red Cross.
The club is sponsored by Mrs. Tara Bird, who teaches Pharmacy Tech I and II as a part of the PCHS Career and Technical Education center’s Health and Medical Sciences program. The club has two Co-Presidents who helped organize this and other events throughout the school year, Laiken Landreth and Shaylen Buckner.
While this is only the second year of sponsoring the Red Cross Club for Mrs. Bird, the school has had the club and annual blood drives since the beginning of PCHS.
The blood drive this week, which was operated by the club’s elected officers and club members, was the second blood drive of the school year for PCHS. By hosting two blood drives, the PCHS Red Cross Club has qualified for a senior scholarship of $250. Red Cross personnel handled the drawing of the blood while students handled registration and taking care of the waiting areas.
The two blood drives were created in honor of Nikolas Pakkidis, son of PCHS ITRT Kathy Pakkidis, who is now in remission after a battle with Ph+ Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The club also created a banner for the Fall Homecoming Pep Rally, which earned first place.
The first blood drive, which took place November 10, collected 34 units and registered 28 first-time donors. The second blood drive, which took place April 24, collected an additional 25 units.
