NEWARK, Del. – The University of Delaware Spring Semester Blood Drive booked all 122 available appointments in a stellar draw held Wednesday, February 26 at the Perkins Student Center.
University of Delaware (UD) has completed a month of the spring semester and students were ready to save lives as evidenced by the whopping number of appointments filled, mostly by students, with a few UD staff sprinkled in the mix.
The huge draw was due in large part to the dedicated, lifesaving efforts of blood drive coordinator Kyle Tubian a junior kinesiology and pre-med major and a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) Fraternity, who organized this blood drive in partnership with BBD Account Manager Gia Rivera. This was Tubian’s fifth blood drive since last school year, and he enjoys volunteering within the medical field.
“I just took it over, and Gia made me coordinator,” Tubian said. “I like to hear where students are coming from, to learn what’s working and what’s not working. I reached out to Greek life as well as professional organizations [to spread the word]. I enjoy it; it’s just fun. You learn people skills, which is important.”
Among those assisting Tubian in the café were Lesley Sheaffer, a junior fashion major, and Caroline Orbin, a sophomore, integrated health sciences major. Both are members of Phi Beta Phi sorority, and they signed up to volunteer as a way to get volunteer hours for their Greek organization.
In addition to students, the voluntary donor blood drive, per tradition, attracted faculty and staff from UD, including strength and conditioning coach Katie Bertolet and Staci Lewis, who works in Human Resources at the UD College of Education and Human Development.
The father of one of Bertolet’s athletes suffered from blood cancer and benefited from transfusions.
“She wasn’t able to come due to the competition schedule, so I told her I would go on her behalf,” she said. “So, here I am.”
For Lewis, nothing beats the propinquity of the UD blood drive and donating where she works.
“I don’t mind going to the Blood Bank, but it’s really nice when you have it here,” she said. “It’s just to make a difference. Thank you for putting it on again.”
Also returning were friends Heaven Boisclair, a junior neuroscience major, and Emily Focht, a junior biology major.
“I’m O negative, so I donate as often as I can,” Boisclair said, referring to the universal blood type.
The drive had a little bit of scientific theme, with such donors as Georgia Angeletakis, a senior, environmental engineering major; Alexa Zampino, a junior, medical diagnostics major; Yanni Halstead, a freshman biomedical engineering major; Erica Gant, a junior, environmental studies major; Ameeta Balaji, a senior, biology major; and Brooke Donahue, a freshman medical laboratory science major.
The blood drive also had universal appeal, drawing graduate, mechanical engineering students Gianni Saracino and Tyler Meyer, who have donated at UD blood drives in the past; Erin Danese, a sophomore, business major; and Lilly McAroy, a junior, media communication major who donated for the first time.
“My Dad thinks I’m going to be O negative like him,” McAroy said.
In all, 88 units of blood were collected from 99 donors who presented to donate.
