It’s not a stretch to say that fruit flies led high school junior Alex Kline to organize an American Red Cross blood drive.

The flies were at the center of an intensive genetics project that Alex undertook at her school, One Stone’s Lab 51 School in Boise, as she learned how specific traits are transferred.

Aware of her project and also of her leadership abilities, one of her academic coaches nominated Alex for the Students of the Year program. Affiliated with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the program assigns the students a mentor and engages them in fundraising efforts to benefit cancer research.

That’s when Alex made another discovery.

“I learned … that 25 percent of blood donations are given to cancer patients,” Alex said.

Before her were two loosely linked organizations — the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the American Red Cross — and Alex realized she had another leadership opportunity to work with both to make a difference.

Because of an iron deficiency, Alex is unable to donate blood right now, so she began to look for other ways to help.

One day while surfing the Internet, she came upon the American Red Cross website. There, she learned about Leaders Save Lives, a program that encourages students to host blood drives and offers them an opportunity to win a college scholarship.

Hosting a blood drive would be a way to assist the Red Cross. It also would help her set the stage for her Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraising campaign.  

Margee Sell became Alex’s Red Cross mentor, helping her arrange a donation site and work out other logistics like recruiting donors.

At first, it was challenging. As the date of the drive drew nearer, only three people had scheduled a donation appointment. But Alex didn’t give up. She brought up the drive during discussions with her friends and convinced her school to put information into its weekly newsletter.

Word began to get out.

Not long after, a local television station interviewed Alex, and after the story aired, the blood drive schedule began to fill up.

By hosting a Leaders Save Lives drive, Alex was eligible for a chance to win a Red Cross scholarship. To qualify, a drive needs to bring in 25 units. Alex’s drive collected 38.

Her name was automatically entered into the Leaders Save Lives national scholarship drawing, and she was one of hundreds from across the country to qualify. Her hard work paid off.

In January, Alex learned she was one of four $1,000 scholarship winners, money she will use to pursue an even bigger goal — studying genetics at a major U.S. university.

“Do it!” Alex exclaimed when asked if others her age should consider hosting a blood drive. “It’s a great way to get involved with your community and gain leadership skills.”

To learn more about the Red Cross Leaders Save Lives
Scholarship program, visit https://www.redcrossblood.org/hosting-a-blood-drive/learn-about-hosting/why-host-a-blood-drive/leaders-save-lives.html.