We are proud of Sweetwater County’s high school students.
During the annual friendly blood drive between Green River and Rock Springs high schools, students raised a total of 713 pints of blood. The schools almost raised exactly the same amounts, with Green River raising 360 pints of blood and Rock Springs raising 353 pints. The human body, depending on size, can contain between 9 and 12 pints of blood, meaning the two schools raised enough blood for between 59 and 79 people. More realistically speaking, that’s enough blood for hundreds of blood transfusions.
We’re always happy to see the two schools use their age-old rivalry towards the benefit of the community. It’s much better than what would happen in years past, where spray-painting a sculpture of a school mascot in the opposing team’s colors and other “pranks” were the order of the day. Now, we see positive manifestations of this rivalry with the annual Make-A-Wish fundraising events, which generate a massive number of donations for the organization’s Wyoming branch. This is the best use of the schools’ rivalry: the benefit of others and the communities in Sweetwater County.
Beyond raising blood for hundreds of transfusions or money to grant wishes to children facing life threatening illnesses, these combined efforts also instill the importance of being community minded and hopefully will drive students to continue serving the communities they live in. The students spending time volunteering at Golden Hour Senior Center, serving on their school’s blood drive committee and planning events for Make-A-Wish are tomorrow’s city council representatives, county commissioners and festival board members. The work they’re doing now will likely set the stage for future volunteer and community-oriented work students will devise after they graduate.
As the two schools prepare for the upcoming Make-A-Wish events, we urge the rest of the community to support these fundraising activities. Students have worked hard to open many fundraising events to be as inclusive to the community as possible. They’re not just fundraising parties geared to students. Great examples are the cuffs and nozzles basketball game between the city’s police department and fire department Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Middler School Gym, or the talent show Feb. 16, again at GRHS, as well as any of the business-sponsored fundraisers going on.
To all students in Sweetwater County’s high schools, we’re proud of you and keep up the good work.
Reader Comments(0)