Three, two, one and the needle pricks the skin slowing taking blood out of her body through a skinny tube. Senior Julie Stelien slowly takes deep breaths for a 10 minute process of getting her blood drawn. National Honor Society’s sixth annual blood drive reached its goal to have 50-60 volunteers on Feb. 12 with 56 girls, Julie was one of them.

According to the president of NHS, Maddy Lewing, participants must be 16 years or older and weigh 115 lbs. The blood from these participants will be sent to Community Blood Center toward blood transfusions for the metropolitan area.

Stelien, who was the second person to get her blood drawn, first took her blood pressure and an iron count. From there, she was placed on the chair and slowly got her blood dawn.

“I’ve had shots before, so I wasn’t necessarily scared of the needle,” she said.

After the hour long process, Stelien started to feel dizzy and become sweaty, but a cup of apple juice and a complimentary cookie corrected her sugar levels.

Though Stelien was close to fainting, Lewing mentioned that no one fainted this year which is a shock to the average of two each year.

Because of these blood donations, many lives will be saved. On average, 41,000 blood donations are needed every day, but only 10 percent of Americans donate each year, according redcrossblood.org.

“The fact I am saving a life, means so much more to give blood,” Stelien said.

Every two seconds, someone needs blood. Will you be the next to save a life?