At 9:59 a.m., an announcement came over the PA: administrators told students that the blood drive, sponsored by Key Club, would be delayed due to “technical issues.” 

Jamie Doctrow (12), president of Key Club, said, “It was really disappointing because we had the most [people] signed up for this [ever].”

According to Doctrow, the problem began at the beginning of second block. “Maintenance people tried to figure it out for an hour; and since they couldn’t figure out what it was by FDA standards, they had to cancel the blood drive,” she said.

The presence of smoke from an unidentified source threatened the safety of the blood drive.
“People could get sick from the fumes, or something could explode,” Doctrow said. “[Canceling it] was something they didn’t want to do, but had to, for legal reasons.”

Conor Fitzpatrick (11) was annoyed. “I was okay at first, but them we had to keep waiting and they didn’t keep you informed. By the time they cancelled it, I had been waiting for an hour and a half.”

This is not the first time, however, that unforeseen problems have cancelled a blood drive at Manual. An infestation of rats and cockroaches delayed a November 3, 2010, blood drive for over a month.
 

Carolyn is a senior in HSU at duPont Manual High School and a staff writer for ManualRedEye.