The National Honor Society (NHS), along with the blood bank Vitalant, hosted the annual CHS blood drive on Friday, Feb. 8.

Senior and blood drive chair Emma Hecht and junior chair Grace Quakenbush, both of Wall, organized the event.

“The blood drive went extremely well. Everything ran smoothly and we had so many donors,” Hecht said. “I’m so happy with how it turned out and really thankful to have had so many people help out with the event.”

Juniors and seniors who were at least 16 years old and 120 pounds and CHS family members were invited to donate.

Junior Maddy Holobinko of Monmouth Beach and her mother both donated.

“Having my mom at the blood drive made it a lot easier to donate,” Holobinko said. “Instead of being nervous to give blood, I was really excited to share the experience with my mom.”

Senior Lauren Arnao of Tinton Falls also donated for the first time.

“I expected it to go a lot worse but it turned out it went very, very well,” Arnao said. “I was really nervous to begin with but everyone that was helping was very nice and it was a great experience overall.”

Senior and NHS secretary Tali Petto of Marlboro donated after not being able to last year.

“Last year, they couldn’t find my vein so they wouldn’t let me donate,” Petto said. “This year, I’m so happy I was able to donate to help someone in need.”

Quakenbush said she is happy with how this year’s event went and is excited to take over for Hecht as head of the blood drive committee next year.

“Everything went incredibly well, mostly because of the help and donations from all of the NHS members,” Quakenbush said. “I’m excited for next year and thanks to Ms. Lane and Emma I feel really prepared going into it.”