The cafeterias this past Saturday were filled with swarm of expo guests exploring the various attractions at the expo with the Public Service Academy students standing out in their matching red shirts.  Not only did these crowds of people fill both cafeterias, but they were also inside the lecture hall, the Commons, the large gym and even outside with the petting zoo.

This was the second annual PSA Free Health Expo and was held by the students of the academy themselves.  The expo included face painting, a petting zoo and dozens of vendors ready to display their knowledge.  Not only was it a fun place to visit and hang out at, but it was also a great place to learn about careers in the health field.

Planned and operated by the students themselves, they were responsible for contacting vendors and coordinating their presentations at the big expo.  Students got to learn more about the careers they were interested in while displaying their knowledge to the hundreds of guests that attended the expo.

“The expo is a way for us to provide service to the community and service learning,” PSA coordinator and Health Science teacher Brenda Brinkman said. “The service component is obviously our students working eight hours that day to put this thing on,”

Students involved in the medical aspect of the academy have definitely been hard at work getting together with the vendors and perfecting their presentations, but it is all for a great cause.  Sophomore Jenn Love said the hours dedicated to planning the expo was well worth it.

“Obviously the whole idea behind PSA is public service.  Public service is helping others and the whole purpose of [this expo] is to educate the community on different topics, like what would be best for them,” Love said.  ”And we have the vendors coming in so they can meet them and figure out plan relating to the different topics they’re covering.”

Not only is the medical side of the academy actively involved in the expo, but also the education branch has been busy testing experiments.

“On the education side of PSA, we are doing science experiments that are elementary school-aged friendly,” sophomore Ali Martinez. “I’m working a booth called Ghost Writer where you take lemon juice and you write with it on a piece of paper and then you apply heat to the paper and it makes it show up kind of like invisible ink.”

The expo’s goal is to help students understand and learn more in depth about the career paths they wish to pursue in the near future.  Whether it is educational or medical, the expo promotes both of the very different sides of the academy.

“It has helped me learn how to prepare for different activities you might do in the classroom in the future,” Martinez said.  You have to do trial and error; you can’t just go into a classroom and decide you want to do this with your kids. So it teaches you preparation skills that will get you ready for actual teaching lessons.”

This was the academy’s second expo, larger than the first one that occurred last year, which had over 1,500 people attend.  Not only were there entertainment aspects to the event, but also ways to give back, such as the spring blood drive.  There were also free health screenings and a lecture series with professionals talking to promote wellness and health.

“The connection to the community is since we are health care and education, we want to understand the needs of the community and because of health care, promote wellness,” Brinkman said.   “And that is why we’re offered the health screenings and all the different things that are at the expo. And my expectation with the academy students is that the expo grows every year.”

Her expectation was right; the expo was a huge success with tons of people showing up to find out how to live a healthy life and what career options are available in the healthcare field.  With dozens of vendors presenting their information, lectures, blood donations, a petting zoo, face painting for the kids, various colleges, and even school clubs, there was plenty of activities available.

“It was really fun, I did not think there would be as many vendors as there were and as many things to do as there are.  I walked around and looked at a few booths, a lot of clubs from the school are here,” Martinez said.  ”The National Art Honor Society is here, Love Your Neighbor, Operation Smile, and it’s really neat to see all these clubs I might want to join and different organizations that are really cool and I did not know about.”

The Health Expo was a hit- not only with its visitors- but also with the academy students themselves.

“Overall I think it went a lot smoother than I thought it would be.  There were more people, it was really organized and the vendors looked very professional.  There were not many major road bumps or anything, so I think it went pretty well,” PSA sophomore Mason David said.

Many of the visitors were also impressed by how organized the expo was and how many activities were available.

“It was quite fun.  The most interesting thing was probably all the interactive stuff they had here.  It’s cool to get a hands on experience and that kind of thing,” sophomore Chris Reed said.

In addition to being a graded major project, it also helps them understand their future careers.

“It’s a good experience to work with the public since that’s the goal of our academy. This expo is giving us a feel for working with different age groups and the public, which we will have to do in our future careers,” Martinez said.

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Video by Savannah Shealy and Sierra Nelson
KCBY

One… two.

Someone in the United States needs blood. A day passes, more than 38,000 blood donations are needed. Two more seconds have just passed, adding another faceless name to the never-ending list. Blood cannot be made. It cannot be manufactured. Blood can only come from generous donors, a pool that saves millions of lives.

On Oct. 6, Carter BloodCare hosted its biannual bloodrive sponsored by the National Honor Society, encouraging hundreds of students and adults alike to donate blood.

Student Anthony Kay donates blood at the CHS fall blood drive.

Students interested in donating blood were and are required to be at least 16 years of age with parent permission. Those older than 17 were only required to have their driver’s license. In addition to meeting age obligations, students also had to have normal hemoglobin levels, heart rate and body temperature.

Carter BloodCare offered a new service to donors this year by checking cholesterol levels for free, an important factor that is often overlooked by the majority of teenagers. High, abnormal levels of cholesterol can lead to coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and quite possibly heart attacks and strokes.

“It’s a new [addition] this year,” Carter BloodCare recruiter consultant Ellen Dinkins said. “We got a grant for the high schools which led us to provide this new service for our donors. Normally, patients have to go to their physicians and pay, but we did it for free in addition to checking blood types.”

Male donors that weigh over 135 pounds and females over 155 pounds had the opportunity to donate double the blood – double the red blood cells and platelets. The process was lengthier for this manner of donation because a machine worked to return fluids back to the body.

“The plasma from the blood can be immediately put to use for burn victims,” Dinkins said. “Carter BloodCare supplies blood to over 360 hospitals in the Metroplex. The community is giving, and we’re giving back to the same community.”

Following these donations, the blood is sent to the lab for testing of any possible problems, and within 42 days, the life shell, the blood will be at use in a hospital.

Volunteers in NHS who did not meet the physical requirements got engaged in different ways throughout the day by shadowing and assisting the nurses. Students in NHS were originally told this year that a service hour would not be given for donating blood.

“We set it up like this, so students would sign up for the greater good,” NHS president senior Judy Hong said. “The officers decided today that those who donated would receive one service hour. The turnout was great; over 240 people signed up, and there were a lot of walk-ins.”

Several minutes passed while this story was read. Numerous more patients were added to the list.

 It is a rare thing for a teacher to have much of a lasting affect on a student beyond the school year in which they are acquainted. This clearly is not the case for Coppell Middle School North’s Band Director, Joel Ashbrook, whose students not only hold him fondly in their memories, but are also willing to go to great lengths for him.

Ashbrook, whose bone marrow has recently stopped producing platelets, is now going through chemo therapy for what doctors feel might be cancer. While normally this process requires medical care and money to be received, upon hearing the news Ashbrook’s students – both former and current – decided to rally together to donate blood through a drive in his honor.

“Several of the parents at North have known Mr. Ashbrook has been sick for quite some time,” CHS sophomore Tommy Reed said. “I know that he has been through three rounds of chemo therapy and that his medical care has been quite expensive. The blood drive was designed to help him get blood for his treatment while offsetting some of his expenses.”

The drive, sponsored by both the school and parents, is to be held at Coppell Middle School North on Dec. 17^th, from 2-7 PM. CarterBlood Care, the same group that is in charge of blood drives at the high school for National Honor Society, will be in charge of the procedures. Additionally, the first one hundred donors will receive a shirt saying “Music is in my blood,” sponsored by donations from several parents.

“I have a fear of needles, especially ones that go into me,” former CMSN band student and current CHS junior Hannah Burns said. “But Mr. Ashbrook was such a sweet and giving director, I’d be willing to help anyways.”

Many students share sentiments similar to Burns’s.

“I think that it’s an honor and privledge to help a former band director,” former CMSN band member and current CHS junior Ryan Izadi said. “I care so much about not only our school, but also the middle school and staff, and everyone’s contribution is a huge help.”

Ashbrook, according to Reed, is aware of the blood drive and honored that people are willing to donate blood. The idea that if many people donate, other sick people will be aided as well pleases him along with this.

“I personally am donating because Mr. Ashbrook has had a big impact on me while I was at North,” Reed said. “I would really like to do all that I can to help him.”

For more information regarding the blood drive, contact CMSN at (214) 496 7100.

Staff Writer

National Honor Society partnered once again with Carter BloodCare to organize the blood drive at CHS that took place in the south gym on Wednesday, Oct. 7. This was the first of two blood drives at the high school, the next to follow in spring.

NHS officers volunteered at the blood drive along with professionals from Carter BloodCare to host a successful drive.

Although students had the option to do walk-ins, most began signing up a week before in preparation for the event.

“This is actually my second time giving blood,” senior Grayson Akerly said. “I saw upperclassmen doing it and I wanted to be a part of that.”

NHS students also benefitted from donating blood.

“Students will receive one service hour for donating blood and half an hour for each person they recruit that is not a member of NHS,” NHS sponsor Jeb Puryear said.

However, despite the necessity of attracting donors, students had to be at least 16 years old, weigh over 110 pounds and be in good health. Other requirements are parental consent for students under the age of 17 and presentation of a photo ID on donation day. Carter BloodCare recommends eating a meal and drinking plenty of fluids before students donated.

After the donation, the organization suggests avoiding strenuous activity for 12 hours at minimum and refrain from smoking or consuming alcohol.

Students have the traditional option of withdrawing a pint of blood or participating in an automated blood donation known as apheresis. With apheresis, blood is drawn from the arm into a centrifuge which spins the blood to separate the components of blood which are differentiated by weight and density. The needed blood components are withdrawn, and the remaining blood is returned to the donor.

“Apheresis takes the double reds and returns the plasma,” Roberta Johnson of Carter BloodCare said. “This process usually takes 30 to 45 minutes, and the retrieved components are used to treat babies and cancer and trauma patients.”

Both procedures take approximately an hour beginning with registration and a health history. Physicians then proceed to conduct a brief physical examination before they withdraw blood, a process that takes just under 10 minutes.

“The mini-physical is an examination of the blood to determine if the donor is eligible to donate blood. The blood pressure, temperature and hemoglobin count are recorded; however, donors are only allowed to give blood if the hemoglobin level is higher than 12.5,” Johnson said.

In addition to the saving lives, there is another incentive with giving blood this year. The Red Cord Honors Program for seniors is a program intended to reward seniors for saving lives. Seniors who wish to receive this recognition are required to give blood twice during the school year and are then honored at graduation with additional cords- this time a strand of red.