On Dec. 4 in the Chap Court, Student Council sponsored the second annual blood drive of the year. For a student to donate blood, he or she had to meet the requirements of being at least 17 years old and weighing more than 123 pounds.

“For this blood drive, each student gave 500 mL of blood, or a little over a pint,” Student Council president Keyur Mehta said. “We had 66 whole blood donations and 16 red cell donations for a total of 82 donors.”

A red cell blood donation is when the red cells are separated from the rest of the blood, and the fluid is returned to the donor. Red blood cell transfusions are important when there are severe car accidents and can also help with cancer patients.

“Giving blood was a great experience,” senior Breck Spencer said. “People take blood for granted too often and it’s fulfilling to give back in an easy, quick way.”

The students of Westlake raised more than 80 liters overall for Blood Center of Central Texas. For more information about blood drives held around Austin, how to get involved and the different types of blood donations, go to www.inyourhands.org.

“The blood drive was awesome,” Keyur said. “We upped our participation numbers from the first blood drive, but we still need more blood donated. We are really excited to have another one and we are hoping to surpass our numbers again.”