The Student Government Association was awarded fifth place by The Migrant Student Foundation for their work in blood drives.

The SGA got the award for “most successful blood drive” as a part of the National Cesar E. Chavez Blood Drive Challenge in which 225 community colleges and universities competed. According to the Migrant Student Foundation website, the goal of the challenge is to celebrate Chavez’s legacy while encouraging students to promote health education and save lives. They worked with Houchin Blood Bank to win the award.

The award was given for the blood drive work done last spring semester. According to Tawntannisha Thompson, who was SGA president last semester, having the blood drive over two days and reminding students that they signed up were factors in winning the award.

“I think it was giving the students the two days and giving them the reminder, if they came in on Monday and said, ‘oh yeah, I promised I would give blood,’ they would come in and donate the next day,” she said. “Actually giving them two days gave them time to plan. So if they know ahead of time that they have two days instead of one day. You can get more students to participate.”

Thompson also believes that a simple change in attitude helped make the difference in the blood drive last semester. “We put our best foot forward and got all the students to actually show up, and more students that were passing by the table said ‘you know what, I’ll do it,’ ’’ she said.

When asked if the award encourages SGA to accomplish more with the blood drive, Thompson said that while the award helps, it’s the students and wanting to help that encourages them.

“I don’t think it’s even about the award,” she said. “It’s that the students put the effort out there to help someone else. Giving blood is not something that someone just does all the time. Just to want to help somebody, and that we did such a good job that we placed fifth out of 225 is enough for me to want to do it again.”

The SGA is planning to have another drive next spring semester. The early planning stages have already begun.