Mrs. Horton has been working at Holyoke high for eleven years as a guidance counselor. For three of those years, she has been in charge of the National Honor Society. The National Honor Society is a national association that recognizes students who have excellence in scholarship, a GPA of 3.5 or better, posses good character, demonstrate leadership, and  who perform community service. For the past four years, the National Honor Society (or NHS) has sponsored blood drives at Holyoke High.

This blood drive had only the blood given by Holyoke High school students and staff. “The students of HHS are so dedicated to the blood drive, I appreciate how easy it is to get volunteers,” said Mrs. Horton. The kids that are in NHS helped advertise, others gave blood, signed kids up, and took care of the blood donors after they gave blood. 

This blood drive collected thirty-eight pints of blood. “Thirty-eight pints doesn’t sound like much until you consider…in the past week at two other high schools they collected eighteen at one and ten at another,” Mrs. Horton said. Sixty volunteers signed up for this, mostly students but some staff members donated!

Last year, they held two blood drives in October and April. Mrs. Horton hopes to do the same this year.