Your Schools Can Earn While They Learn: High School Scholarship Program Is Now Nationwide 

Confirm Your Drives to Ensure Participation This Year

Vitalant has taken the exciting step of expanding our High School Scholarship Program (HSSP) from select regions to a nationwide initiative. Through the HSSP, participating schools can earn up to $4,000 annually in scholarship funds. 

Program details

The program previously operated only in Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Montvale, New Jersey. While this program is available to high schools in most areas, please check with your Vitalant representative to confirm your school is eligible to participate.

This expansion reflects a growing need to engage the next generation of blood donors while creating valuable opportunities for students. Students can make a tangible difference for patients while learning lifelong skills.

“For students, it's more than a blood donation. It's a life-changing moment that reveals their power to make a profound difference in the world, and we believe every student deserves that opportunity,” said Portia Van Drisse, Vice President of Strategic Growth, Blood Services at Vitalant. “Through scholarship funding, and resume-building experiences, students gain far more than recognition. They gain purpose. 

“We invite you to join a movement that empowers students, strengthens communities, and helps answer a need that never ends. Every two seconds, someone needs blood. Together, this program can build the generation that answers that need.”

High school blood drives have always been about more than collecting lifesaving blood donations. They are opportunities for students to:

• Develop leadership and project management skills.
• Strengthen college and scholarship applications and resumes.
• Unite students around a common purpose.
• Create a legacy of service. 

The future of the blood supply depends on younger donors 

Many longtime donors are facing health conditions and medications that limit their ability to give blood. At the same time, maintaining a diverse donor base helps ensure blood is available for patients who require closely matched transfusions. 

High school blood drives play a critical role in introducing young people to the habit of donation and helping build a stronger, more sustainable blood supply for years to come.

The work you do is invaluable

As schools continue to face competing priorities and student participation has not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels in many areas, the role of committed blood drive coordinators like you is more important than ever.

Every successful high school blood drive represents countless lives touched: patients receiving critical transfusions, students discovering the power of service and communities coming together around a common purpose. 

Thank you for the vital role you play in making these experiences possible. Together, we are helping develop future leaders while ensuring patients receive the lifesaving blood they need when it matters most.

Confirm your high school blood drives with your Vitalant representative soon so your schools can take advantage of the scholarship program.