The secretary of student organization PENN HOSA, Bailey Wright, presented the results of the group's latest blood drive, as well as several upcoming projects to the Carbon Career & Technical Institute Joint Operating Committee on Thursday evening.

"We kicked off the year with our first Miller-Keystone Blood Drive, and we saved 120 lives on Sept. 30," said Wright, who is also president of the local HOSA chapter and a senior CCTI health medical student. HOSA is a national student organization that promotes career opportunities in the health care industry, and seeks to enhance quality health care.Wright said that the event attracted 46 donor sign-ups, with a total of 40 good units. Each unit of blood can help save the life of three people. The next blood drive will be held on Dec. 16, with a spring event planned for April.Wright also explained several other initiatives spearheaded by the health/medical students and HOSA."We are beginning the second marking period with a healthy school initiative," Wright said. "All health/medical and 11th-grade students will be given a pedometer. We are going to educate our students on how nutrition and exercise promote healthy bodies.Students will track how many miles they walk, and how many calories they burn in a day. Diet and exercise will be tracked with an app called My Fitness Pal that each student will be prompted to download, and students will be weighed in every Monday," Wright said.Students will receive awards at the end of each marking period based on the highest percentage of body weight or most inches lost, along with a grand prize at the end of the year - a monthlong gym membership and a consultation with a personal trainer."SkillsUSA, HOSA and DECA will donate $1 for every pound lost to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, up to $250," Wright said. DECA is an international association of marketing students.Wright also announced that the health/medical department will be hosting a walkathon in November, intending to raise money for the Bo Tkach Under the Helmet and Hat Foundation, as well as the Epilepsy Foundation."The Bo Tkach Foundation is an organization that helps prevent suicide, OCD and depression, and that goes hand-in-hand with HOSA's International Service Project this year, which is the National Alliance on Mental Illness," Wright said.