Keira High School students gave blood in place of their school muck-up day. Picture: ANDY ZAKELI
Muck-up days have long been a tradition for Year 12 students, but yesterday Keira High School students decided to buck the muck-up trend by organising a blood drive to mark the start of their last week of school.
School captain Ashleigh O'Dea said she came up with the idea because she wanted her classmates to leave a positive legacy at their school.
"Muck-up days really aren't something we do at Keira, but we thought we should do something to help the community rather than cause grief at our school," she said.
About 20 of Keira High's Year 12 students visited the blood bank yesterday morning to take part in the Wollongong Schools Blood Challenge.
Male school captain Christian Di Ciaccio said he convinced his friends to take part by challenging them to "man-up".
"I told them if they had guts, they should come and donate blood," he said.
"So rather than causing a nuisance in our school we're doing something nice for people in the wider community."
Ashleigh said she was proud of her classmates' behaviour and said most students who gave blood yesterday were first-time blood donors who would now continue to donate regularly in the future.
"I've always been interested to give blood and I wanted to get other people involved because the level of blood donations is really low," she said.
"I feel really proud to be a member of Keira High and it's a good way to see our school years off on a positive note."