Danville Regional Medical Center Awards Area High School Students with College Scholarships for Organzing Blood Drives

DANVILLE, Va. (July 27, 2010) - Five local high school students have earned help paying for college as a result of their efforts outside of the classroom.

Danville Regional has awarded five students a total of $3,250 towards their college education for coordinating blood drive competitions in their high schools.

The competition challenged local high schools to get 20 percent of its junior and senior classes to donate blood. Students from several local schools volunteered to form committees to recruit students, faculty and parents for donations, and to provide basic information and donor cards. 

First place winner Morgan Dodson from Westover Christian Academy encouraged 89 percent of her junior and senior class to give blood and she will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Coming in second place in the competition are Kahley Keen and Jason Sudduth from Dan River High School, who will each receive a $700 scholarship for recruiting 65 percent of their classmates. Kasey Anderson from Chatham High School will receive a $600 scholarship for getting 46 percent of students to donate blood. A scholarship of $250 will go to Victoria Littlefield from Galileo Magnet High School for getting 24 percent participation. Keen and Sudduth will both attend Danville Community College, and Dodson, Anderson and Littlefield will attend Liberty University, Bridgewater College and Longwood University, respectively, this fall.

“This competition creates a great partnership among the donor center staff, the students who donate blood, and the people whose lives are helped in the community,” said Karen Chappelle, Danville Regional Blood Donor Center coordinator. “The high school students are amazingly generous when it comes to donating blood, and they deserve to be recognized for their efforts. These young people are realizing that they have the ability to provide the gift of life.”

Morgan Dodson got involved with organizing the blood drive in her role as Community Service Leader for the Honor Society at Westover Christian Academy. She faced several challenges along the way, but the blood drive was ultimately a big success. Morgan believes that receiving this scholarship will be a huge financial blessing, and she also learned a lot along the way. “Through planning the blood drives, I learned how to plan and organize events, as well as patience, time management and the importance of team work,” said Morgan.

Danville Regional is the only hospital in the Dan River Region with its own blood donor center and bloodmobile.  Only five percent of the people in the United State donate blood and statistics show that 25 percent or more will require blood donation at least once in their lives.  High schools students in the Dan River Region are doing their part to help raise the donation percentage.

Danville Regional is the leading medical center in the Dan River Region of Virginia and North Carolina, providing open heart surgery and advanced cancer treatment. Approximately 140 physicians are on the medical staff. The medical center employs approximately 1,400 people.

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