As some students were thinking of their plans for Halloween night Wednesday, 144 of their fellow students were taking part in National Dracula Day on the Brickyard. National Dracula Day is a nationwide blood drive effort. This was the inaugural year for the event, which professor Ron Campbell organized, and 14 colleges and universities nationwide took part in it.
Since it was Halloween, Campbell thought it would be a good idea to center the event around a Dracula theme. The event had a total crowd of 144 participants throughout the day. This number shows students are interested and have a desire to support life by giving of themselves — literally.
On our campus, National Dracula Day had the help of the Pre-Health Club, which collaborated with REX Hospital, and Professor Campbell coordinated. Next year, other student organizations should get involved to increase capacity from the current 144 to 200 or more. This event is a good idea, and it needs student participation to ensure that it continues.
Campbell’s goal is to have 1,000 universities around the nation take part in National Dracula Day. While this may be unrealistic in the next few years, students at N.C. State should pass the word along to their friends at other schools to help reach this lofty goal.
Giving blood is an admirable endeavor — more students should consider giving blood. According to the American Red Cross, only five percent of eligible Americans donate blood in a given year — five percent is too low and National Dracula Day is making an effort to change that number.
When one person donates blood, it could save up to three lives. From the long lines at other campus blood drives, students have proven at this University that they want to give blood, so it’s up to us to find out a way to get as many people as possible involved with this noteworthy event.
So next year, when it comes close to Halloween, students should see about volunteering their time to help and donate blood. It’s time to help National Dracula Day suck the blood out of as many students and universities as possible.
