Adrianna Lyons, second from left, received a $2,000 scholarship from the American Red Cross for her efforts with the blood drives held on campus. Sonja Ronovech of the American Red Cross, Director of Student Life Jeffrey Foote, and Steve Leary of the American Red Cross presented Lyons with the scholarship money outside of SUNY Cobleskill's Bouck Hall.

Red Cross Gives $2,000 Scholarship to SUNY Cobleskill Student

When SUNY Cobleskill’s Student Government Association (SGA) began working on the Red Cross Blood Drives, students gave graciously. Adrianna Lyons, a work study student in the Student Life Center, did much more than donate her own time and blood; she took on the challenge of helping rally the student body.

Lyons got involved with the campus blood drives when Jeff Foote, director of student life, began to ramp up on campus efforts for the Red Cross Blood Drives and asked her to chip in. From that point on she took the responsibility head on. She asked some of her friends to help her out with sitting in Champlin Dining Hall and get students to pre-register for the blood drive and donates each time the drive is on campus.

“Jeff mentioned there was a blood drive coming up to some of the Student Government people, and I got excited,” said the Cooperstown native. “I love to give blood. It makes me feel so good that I'm helping other people in way that it can save their life. I enjoy helping my peers whenever I can and donating blood is a way to reach out to people that you don't even know.”

Through her efforts with SGA, SUNY Cobleskill began to steadily increase the number of student donations. Red Cross began to notice the increase as well, noting the college has the highest percent of its students give blood than any other college in the region at 23 percent of the student population donating, and offered scholarship money to a SUNY Cobleskill student.

“When Student Government [Association] got involved in the blood drives, the students responded well,” said Steven Leary, senior account manager of donor services and recruitment for the American Red Cross. “This is the first year we have offered the SUNY scholarship we’ve seen significant growth at the SUNY schools.”

Foote had noticed how Lyons stepped up and embraced the challenge and kept her in mind when it came time to give the scholarship money. Because the college had raised more than 150 useable units of blood, Lyons received a $2,000 scholarship from the Red Cross. When the Red Cross initially told Foote about the money he wasn’t aware it would reach that level and surprised Lyons during a Council for Student Activities event one night.

“I just like helping out with everything and this was a great surprise to go along with it. And I couldn't have done all this without the help of a few of my friends and Jeff Foote,” she said. “The Red Cross is a wonderful organization and I think this is a great cause.”