Organized by Andover Students in Medicine (SIM), Andover’s biannual blood drive gathered students, faculty, and staff volunteers in the Pan Athletic Center on November 5. In partnership with the American Red Cross, SIM plans the blood drive every fall and spring to encourage the Andover community to donate blood and help save lives.
This year, 85 people signed up and 55 units of blood were collected, according to Julia LaMarche ’25, Co-Head of SIM. LaMarche framed the blood drive as only the beginning of a journey of continuous impact, hoping the blood drive was as approachable as possible, knowing it could be intimidating for some students.
“The more people know about it, the more comfortable you become with [donating blood]. Once you do it once, you’re just like, it’s not that scary, it’s not that bad. Then, a lot of these people will go on to be lifelong donors. Just starting early and educating [others will get] a lot of these people [to donate]. A lot of our student donors will donate over the summers, too, because they know that they’re eligible. They know that they’ve done it before. So I think we just want to get the word out and try and make our impact as a club,” said LaMarche ’25.
Michael Kuta, Head Athletic Trainer and Instructor, has been overseeing the blood drive for the forty-four years since he joined Andover. As a long-time donor himself, Kuta emphasized the importance of this blood drive as a first opportunity for volunteers to donate blood.
“One thing that’s really important is that over fifty percent of our donors are first-time donors. You can’t give a second time if you don’t give a first time. That’s my personal history. I didn’t give blood until my own high school blood drive. That’s something that’s stayed with me, and that’s really important. I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to continue to do this for community work,” said Kuta.
In the weeks leading up to the event, SIM set up a table in Paresky Commons to encourage students to sign up. Ava Cai ’27, a board member of SIM, described the process of outreach.
“We’re trying to work with the Red Cross to get as many donations as possible. We do tabling, so we do outreach, we work with the community to get sign ups for the blood drive… we get food, things like that. We try to help out the Red Cross workers as much as we can to make it as smooth of a process as possible,” said Cai.
Encouraging students to donate, returning donor Artur Constant ’25 highlighted the convenience of the event, especially for boarding students. He cited the blood drive as a simple way to make a positive impact on the Andover campus.
“It’s important for students to have a chance to do it. As borders, if it wasn’t for this, it would be hard for us to donate blood for people who want to or for people who didn’t hear about it. As an international student, I wouldn’t know where to go to donate blood, so having it here makes it very convenient,” said Constant.
David Frahm ’26 acknowledged that a fear of needles may deter students from donating. Still, he was inspired to donate due to the statistics shared by SIM about the high demand for blood donations.
“It’s a good thing to do, and I don’t have a strong reaction to needles, so there’s no reason for me not to do it. Why wouldn’t I?… Every two seconds, someone needs blood, so that’s why I think it’s important. It’s a good opportunity for students to do something not necessarily academic but [that helps] others,” said Frahm.
Students were not the only ones who donated. Catherine Tousignant, Instructor in English, described how hearing stories from those who received donated blood helped her overcome initial discomfort. She connected the blood drive to Andover’s school motto, non sibi.
“For a long time, I was not a blood donor because I donated blood once, and I really didn’t like the way it made me feel. I have a minor blood phobia… What it took for me to get over that feeling and commit to doing it, even though I don’t really like the sensation of giving [blood], is people’s stories… It’s really [about] understanding the direct impact, how people’s lives are changed because other people donate blood. And for me, that really opened my mind to face my own discomfort, get over it, and just do it because there’s so much at stake for other people,” said Tousignant.
