High School Program
Welcome to the High School Challenge Program
Each year San Diego Blood Bank challenges Southern California area high schools to compete for the highest percentage of participation in blood drives at their school and for the highest number of units collected. Each school's achievements are tallied at the end of the school year. Winning schools are awarded grants ranging from $500 to $2500. Individual students are also eligible to win $500 scholarships. You can get more details about how both the high school grant and scholarship programs work if your school isn't already participating by contacting us here.
How the High School Challenge Program Works
Participating high schools must participate in at least three (3) San Diego Blood Bank blood drives (community* or on campus) from August 1 - June 30 (school year) and achieve their annual goal.
*A community blood drive consists of a blood drive location in your community in place of hosted blood drive on the school campus. The high school blood drive coordinators will recruit blood donors to the donate blood at a community blood drive. Presenting blood donors will provide the high school group code during registration which will be used to calculate units collected toward the high school challenge goal.Grants will be awarded at the end of the school year ranging from $500 to $2500.
Click here to view the High School Coordinator Workbook.
Student Scholarship Program
$500 scholarships will be awarded each year to five (5) eligible San Diego county high school seniors, two Imperial Valley high schools, and two Temecula Valley high school seniors pursuing higher education (e.g. college, university, community college, technical centers) to support tuition.
Student Scholarship Program Eligibility:
- Applicant’s high school must participate in at least one community blood drive during the school year, and applicant must participate in the planning and execution of at least one successful community blood drive for their high school.
- Applicant must maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA.
- Applicant must demonstrate leadership by encouraging blood donations and increasing student participation at a school sponsored community blood drive(s).
- Applicant must plan to enroll in an institution of higher education in the year following the scholarship.
High School Red Cord For Life Program
San Diego Blood Bank also offers a High School Red Cord For Life Program. The program rewards students who give multiple blood donations at high school sponsored community blood drives. Eligible students will be awarded a San Diego Blood Bank Red Cord that they may wear at graduation.
Red Cord Eligibility:
- The student must have donated two (2) or more times at their high school sponsored San Diego Blood Bank community blood drives by the end of their senior year.
- A regular blood donation equals one unit.
- Students that are not eligible to donate blood can participate in this program by recruiting three (3) or more individuals to donate blood, on their behalf, at their high school sponsored San Diego Blood Bank community blood drives.
