Blood Assurance honors graduate donors

The Associated Press

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis has urged graduates at New York’s Bard College to use their education to “redeem the soul of our nation.”

The Georgia Democrat told the graduates on Saturday to keep their “eyes on the prize” and not become bitter. He quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. saying “hate is too heavy a burden to bear.”

Lewis was an organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. He was beaten by police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965.

The 77-year-old Lewis said he thought he was going to die in Selma but he lived. He told the graduates, “You will live to tell the story.” Bard is a private liberal arts college 110 miles north of New York City.

Blood Assurance awarded 2017 high school graduates who committed to saving lives by donating blood and recruiting blood donors throughout their senior years. All seniors at “Project Lifesaver” high schools — schools committed to partnering with Blood Assurance — are given the opportunity to donate or have others donate on their behalf a designated amount of times prior to graduation. In return, students are awarded cords to wear at their school’s graduation. Students at these high schools were also given the opportunity to apply for one of 12 Crystal Green Memorial Scholarships given each year in the amount of $1,500 each.

Students who are awarded a “Cord of Courage” are required to donate or recruit donors to give six units of blood, or donate platelets or double red blood cells three times.

Cords of Courage recipients include:

From Armuchee High School — Michael A. Ambler, Kylee Godfree, Graisen Harris, Sarah K. Jacobs, Kimberly Jenkins, Philip Jenkins, Brian Richey, Destiney Rogers, Emma Trotter and Destiny Young.

From Coosa High School — Andy DeLeon, Georgia Hamby and Grayson Wimpee.

From Rome High School — Sarah Eichenberger, Randy Finley, Matthew Wall and Ashleigh Watkins.

From Model High School — Lauren Williams.

From Pepperell High School — Christian Parrons and Yasmin Silvey.

To receive a “Super Cord of Courage,” students must donate or recruit donors to give 10 units of blood, or donate platelets or double red blood cells five times.

Super Cord of Courage of recipients include:

From Coosa High School — Eduardo Acevedo, Abigail Brown and David Little.

A Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship of $1,500 was awarded to Kimberly Jenkins of Armuchee High School.

Crystal Green, who was from Dade County, died from aplastic anemia in 1998 at the age of 21.

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