The Blood Assurance Foundation is proud to announce the 2012 winners of its Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship. Eleven students each received a $1,500 scholarship to assist with their educational expenses.

Crystal, who graduated from Dade County High School, was a student at Georgia Southern University before suffering a setback with aplastic anemia. After hundreds of hours of platelet transfusions and a bone marrow transplant, Crystal lost her long battle in November 1998, shortly after turning 21.

In her honor, Blood Assurance established a scholarship fund in 1999 for high school students seeking to better themselves and aspiring to give back to the communities from which they came. To date, 142 scholarships have been awarded.

Scholarship applicants are judged on a written application, high school transcript, school and community service, letters of recommendation, and a marketing plan for a blood drive.

Eligible students must attend a school which participates in Blood Assurance’s Project Lifeline, a series of blood drives held at local high schools. Seniors must have at least a B average and at least a 20 on the ACT or a score of 1100 on the SAT to apply.

For the 2011 - 2012 school year, 13,581 units of blood were collected at Project Lifeline blood drives. Ninety-eight high schools participate in Project Lifeline, and 16.2 percent of Blood Assurance donors are under the age of 20.

The 2012 Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship recipients are: Rebecca Michaels,    North Sand Mountain School; Hannah Bradford, Dade County High School; Jeb Johnson,     Soddy Daisy High School; Natalie Tracy, Gordon Lee High School;, Madeline Jorges, Trion High School; Amelia Sarrell, Dade County High School; Conner Kapperman, Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences; Maggie Bain, Lincoln County High School; Derek Roberts, Polk County High School; Hannah Wimberley, St. Andrew's-Sewanee School and Kellie Day, Soddy Daisy High School.

In addition to the Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship, Blood Assurance presents six trophies annually to commemorate outstanding efforts by area high schools. Schools are divided into divisions based on the number of graduating seniors.  Division I is for larger schools with 150 or more graduating seniors. Division II is for smaller schools with 149 seniors or less. 

Division I (more than 150 graduating seniors)

Most Donations: Southeast Whitfield High - 634

Highest Participation: Southeast Whitfield High 298%

Highest Improvement: Ringgold High 166%

Division II (149 or less graduates)

Most Donations: Dade County - 379

Highest Participation: Richard Hardy 400%

Highest Improvement: North Sand Mountain 304%

For more information on Project Lifeline or the Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship, please visit www.bloodassurance.org or call 800-962-0628.

Photo caption:
Blood Assurance held a luncheon to honor the 2012 recipients of the Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship. Front row, left to right: Amelia Sarrell, Dade County High School; Hannah Bradford, Dade County High School; Maggie Bain, Lincoln County High School. Second row, left to right: Jeb Johnson, Soddy Daisy High School; Kellie Day, Soddy Daisy High School; Conner Kapperman, Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences; Natalie Tracy, Gordon Lee High School; Derek Roberts, Polk County High School and Rebecca Michaels, North Sand Mountain School.
(Not pictured: Hannah Wimberly, St. Andrew's-Sewanee School and Madeline Jorges, Trion High School)
Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship Recipients Announced