CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) - Since the Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship program recognized its first recipients in 1999, more than 130 area high school students have received financial assistance in their pursuit of higher education.
This year's scholarship recipients were recognized during the past month at senior awards ceremonies throughout the region. The 2011 Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship recipients are:
Sarah Roberts - Polk County High School
Jordan Barker - Ringgold High School
Michael Wallace - Cookeville High School
Elizabeth Belles - Dalton High School
William Scott - McCallie School
Sarah Dunn - Section High School
Katherine Harris - Soddy Daisy High School
Rachel Henn - Franklin County High School
Brittany Townsell - Dade County High School
Callie Anne Lewis - Heritage High School
Morgan Franklin - Cookeville High School
Courtney Keehan - Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences
In order to apply for the scholarship, the student's high school must have held a blood drive during the school year. All seniors are eligible to apply, regardless of individual donation history.
The judging panel - comprised of Blood Assurance Foundation board members - received 83 anonymous applications and make their decisions based on a
written application, high school transcripts, school and community service, letters of recommendation, and a marketing plan for a blood drive.
The winners were formally honored at a reception hosted by Blood Assurance on Thursday.
The scholarship is named in memory of Crystal Green, a graduate of Dade County High School, who received countless blood transfusions before losing her battle with aplastic anemia shortly after turning 21 years old. Aplastic anemia is just one condition in which treatment requires the use of blood transfusions. By hosting blood drives with the only regional blood provider for more than
50 hospitals and healthcare facilities, local high schools are directly impacting the lives of patients in the immediate area.
Each year in October, the Blood Assurance Foundation hosts a golf tournament to raise funds for the scholarship program. For more information on how you can help area students achieve their pursuit of higher education, please visit
www.bloodassurance.org/contribute.
Blood Assurance officials also announced they need a minimum of 400 donations every day to meet the demands of area hospitals. With the extreme heat and lack of school blood drives, the summer months are already having an impact on the blood supply. Blood Assurance is asking for donations of all types, specifically O positive, which is the most common blood type.
Jordan Barker, a recent graduate of Ringgold High at the Crystal Green Awards Luncheon
