Noah Hughes
The Broadside
Blood donations are in and stress levels went up for some of the members of the Associated Students of the Cascades Campus. The blood drive results were one of the items on the table during the Feb 27 meeting of ASCC. They also discussed some of their other programs in the works as well as taking an inventory of their strengths and weaknesses so far in the year.
During the two days of the blood drive, Red Cross and ASCC received 55 donations. Of those donations, 24 were from the first day, and 31 from the second. Despite these numbers, Staci Pradmore, ASCC program coordinator expressed a lack of organization that impacted the program. Several Oregon State University-Cascades students were kept much longer than they expected, making them late for classes by 45 minutes, according to Pradmore. At least four students approached Pradmore after the drive, requesting to not be asked to donate for them again.
Pradmore suggested choosing an alternative to a blood drive for the ASCC event in the spring term, such as registration for bone marrow donations.
“I just want to do something other than a blood drive for the spring term; it’s not worth the stress and irritation,” Pradmore said. “We need to invest in something that can impact more people.”
Andrew Davis, ASCC’s advisor, warned against reactive decisions. ASCC need to weigh options based on the greater cost and benefit, according to Davis. Davis also expressed that the Red Cross getting backed up during the blood drive reflected on that organization, not ASCC.
In addition to the blood drive, ASCC is involved in a couple of events:
“Soup and Study” is for OSU-Cascades students and will include both vegetarian and meat soups purchased from Ray’s Food Place. At a cost of $240 they will have enough for 50 servings a day over a two-day period.
Partnering with the Latino Club to help pay for the Latin Dance instructor. ASCC plans to cover $300 of the cost
Finally, ASCC made an inventory of their strengths over the year so far, as well as areas in need of improvement. Pradmore was concerned over their team work skills. Caroline Ervin, ASCC president, made it clear student government members should be more direct with their requests for help. Betty Bagley, ASCC secretary and treasurer, expressed concerns that some members try to take on responsibilities without asking for help. Kate Roth, ASCC marketing and public relations coordinator, suggested more communication with the OSU Leadership Team.
“We need to spend more time with senior leadership, using relationship building as an exercise to proactively seek out things to do—and learn something in the process,” said Roth.
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