HOUSTON — Four-year Spanish students wore sombreros to the Houston High School award ceremony Thursday, May 12. Some seniors wore the colors of the college they will attend next fall, and several received Red Cords honoring their blood donations. But Maya Wills earned praise for a t-shirt that is truly all her own.
Wills is one of five Community Blood Center/Vectren Lead The Way Scholarship winners who will each receive a $1,000 award from Vectren for college tuition assistance.
“I know everyone loves t-shirts,” said CBC Account Representative Kathy Pleiman as she prepared to present awards. “I see some of our blood drive t-shirts out there. You’ll be seeing a lot more of Maya’s t-shirt because it is very special.”
Scholarship applicants must develop an effective blood drive marketing campaign with a clever theme and slogan. Wills impressed the judges with her empathetic slogan “Share Your Life… Share Your Blood” and the originality of her artwork. Her t-shirt design features two figures connected by a single arm with the color red flowing from one to the other.
“It creates a connection between the donor and recipient,” she said in her application. “As a seven-time donor myself, I always wonder where my blood goes, who received it and how their life is bettered by my actions.”
At the Wednesday award ceremony Wills talked about the inspiration for her design. “I was on my phone, and I was thinking about all the technology we have and the way it connects people. I thought about how one person as a blood donor makes a connection with so many people.”
She believes the “Share Your Life… Share Your Blood” message “encourages my classmates to donate by showing they that there is more connection out there between people than just through technology.”
Wills made her seventh lifetime donation at Houston’s May 5 blood drive, sponsored by the National Honor Society. A total of 62 donors supported with the drive, including 24 first-time donors and 57 donations for 114 percent of the collection goal.
Wills will study marine biology at Bowling Green Sate University and hopes to work in animal rescue and ocean research.
Samples of the scholarship winning artwork will be available at: www.GivingBlood.org/giving-back/reward. The Lead The Way Creative Scholarship for High School Seniors is made possible by a $5,000 grant from Vectren.
Learn more at www.GivingBlood.org
