Introducing the Fall 2024 Influencer Scholarship winners
We are excited to announce the winners of our Fall 2024 Influencer Scholarship Contest. There were many exceptional submissions, and their reach encouraged donations and saved lives across North, Central, and East Texas.
The winners of the Fall 2024 Carter BloodCare Influencer Scholarship Contest are Angelina Coon, from International Leadership of Texas, Keller-Saginaw High School, and Campbell Lewis, from Lake Highlands High School!
Angelina is involved with MCJROTC at ILTexas Keller-Saginaw High, where she participates in armed drill and marksmanship. She entered the contest to share her mom’s story, and her personal experience with donating blood and to inspire others to donate.
“Blood donation has impacted my life through my mother,” Angelina said. “While giving birth, she lost three liters of blood. It was life-threatening. Through blood donations, her life was saved and my family is beyond thankful.”
Angelina had donated blood before and loved her donation experience, which is another reason why she decided to enter the contest. When talking about her donation experience, she said “As soon as I walked in, I felt so welcome and comfortable. There are so many amazing people working for Carter BloodCare, which will keep me coming back.”
Angelina plans on attending flight school, with Coast Flight Academy and Infinity Flight Group among her top options. She aspires to become a commercial pilot one day and would also like to get into real estate. For now, she’s encouraging others to donate blood.
“It’s such an experience, and you get to learn about something you don’t know much about,” Angelina said. “You can hardly feel any pain [from the needle stick] and you get snacks. So go save some lives!”
Campbell plays violin in the LHHS Symphonic Orchestra and plays post for the Lady Wildcats basketball team. She is also enrolled in the health care endorsement track at Lake Highlands, where she’s learned skills she put into practice to help win the Influencer Scholarship Contest. Her passion for blood donation advocacy comes from her dad, who benefitted from blood transfusions himself.
“Blood donations have been lifesaving for my dad,” Campbell said. “He was born premature and received lifesaving donations right around Christmas time. Many of my family members have been avid donors.”
Campbell plans to donate blood and get involved with the local blood bank when she attends college, where she hopes to be a good representative for blood donation awareness. The University of Arkansas is her current top choice for school, where she would enroll in their exercise science program.
“Furthering my education in health care will have a lifetime impact on myself and others,” Campbell said. “My advice to anyone thinking about donating would be, think about all the lives you could save with just 30 minutes of your time.”
On behalf of everyone at Carter BloodCare, congratulations to Angelina and Campbell, and thank you to everyone who participated.
Submissions are now open for the Spring 2025 Influencer Scholarship Contest.