April is National Donate Life Month (NDLM), a month where organ donation is celebrated and highlighted throughout the nation in schools and workplaces. For NDLM, Highlands has joined a competition against other schools seeing which school can get the most students to either sign up (for ages 18 and older) or pledge to be an organ donor.

In order to raise schoolwide awareness and get students interested in becoming an organ donor, the Health Committee planned and hosted many activities. On Thursday, April 11, all students reported to the PAC during focus period to learn about organ donation and also hear from Kevin Reynolds, a kidney recipient, and Highlands basketball coach Jon McSorley, who is waiting for a liver.

To continue the week’s activities, on Friday, the Health Committee had girls wear white and boys wear blue to celebrate National Organ Donation Day. All students who wore their corresponding colors could go to the football field during focus period to receive candy and take a group photo.

However, the activities aren’t complete yet! In order to help Highlands win the competition for the most pledges, students should report to the tables in the cafeteria and front lobby before school and during lunch on April 16^th and 17th to pledge or sign up. If the school receives the most donors, Highlands is eligible to win up to $400!

Leaving the festivities aside, last year 36,500 organ transplants were performed due to generous donors. Of these 36,500 transplants, 214 of these recipients were located in the Greater Cincinnati area.  However, there are still 113,726 people waiting on the list, with 586 of them located in Greater Cincinnati.

But, with increased donors comes increased chances for these people to be saved. A single organ donor can save up to eight lives through their donation and a tissue donor can positively impact up to 75 lives.

To pledge to become an organ and tissue donor doesn’t change anything about pledges’ everyday life, but it can heavily impact someone else’s if something were to happen. Sign up on Tuesday the 16^th or Wednesday the 17^th in the cafeteria or main lobby to become a donor and potentially make a huge impact on someone’s life.