CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — "Giving so that others may live," that's the mission of the Coastal Bend Blood Center, and on Tuesday, hundreds of local students were honored for being part of that mission.
The organization hosted its annual 'High School Heroes Awards Luncheon' at the Mansion Royal where students, teachers, nurses and faculty from 52 Coastal Bend schools were honored for their blood donations and blood drive efforts in their communities.
In fact, local high school students account for 30 percent of the blood supply collected in our community.
Mathis High School senior, Anthony Valdez, was awarded as the Top Donor and said it is awesome to be able to help those who need the donations.
"It feels great, awesome, knowing there's a lot of people out there that needed it," Valdez said.
Recipient of the 'Charles Gubitosi Award,' Libby Campbell from Veterans Memorial High School said she has loved this opportunity to help so many people.
"Knowing that someone else is able to be helped, because every donation is three lives, and the amount of times you do it, it increases every time and it helps so many people," Campbell said.
Coastal Bend Blood Center Community Outreach and Education Coordinator Ashley Ramirez said it has been another successful year with the Red Cord Program.
"This year alone we saw over 12,000 units of blood in high schools, amazing, and over 3,000 high schools students received their red cord, that's so exciting," Ramirez said. "We're thrilled to be here, we're thrilled to be able to recognize them and let them know they're doing such a good job. I mean it doesn't get better than saving lives in your community, it really doesn't."
The students were awarded new laptops for school donated by Dawson's Recycling and Disposal, thousands of dollars in scholarships on behalf of H-E-B and several awards and plaques sponsored by Frost Bank.
A great job by all the students for being lifesavers in their community!
Division 5A
- 1st place: Veterans Memorial High School
- 2nd place: Mary Carroll High School
- 3rd place: Flour Bluff High School
- Honorable mention: Portland High School
Division 4A
- 1st place: Orange Grove High School
- 2nd place: Sinton High School
- 3rd place: Alice High School
- Honorable mention: Rockport-Fulton High School
Division 3A
- 1st place: Mathis High School
- 2nd place: George West High School
- 3rd place: Falfurrias High School
- Honorable mention: London High School
Division 2A
- 1st place: Woodsboro High School
- 2nd place: Port Aransas High School
- 3rd place: Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco High School
- Honorable mention: Premont High School
Division 1A
- 1st place: Tuloso-Midway Academic Career Center
- 2nd place: Benavides High School
- 3rd place: Annapolis Christian Academy
- Honorable mention: Por Vida Academy
Awards
- Top Recruiter: Addison Berthold (Orange Grove High School)
- Top Donor: Anthony Valdez (Mathis High School)
- Rising Star: Solomon Coles High School
- WOW: Orange Grove High School