Red Cross Club presidents raise awareness about medical and health issues to make a difference

Winn and Newton share their passion for the medical field with others

The hallways are bare and chilly this early Tuesday morning. Room C103 is being reserved for students that have chosen to make a difference in their local community. They have open discussions regarding threatening diseases and helping to prevent them, this is the daily life of a member of the Red Cross Club at James Bowie High School. Co-presidents of the club, juniors Madison Winn and Caleb Newton, along with their teacher sponsor science teacher Erin Kowalik, and some other members of the club, juniors Jolie Francis and Yasmine Ben-Brahim, each enjoy going to and participating in the club every week. As a high school representation of Red Cross of Austin, they have constant communication with the organization. “We actually have a contact in the Red Cross who works closely with all the clubs in Austin and we try to align ourselves with other schools and do activities at the same time,” Newton said. “Also, Madison and I are apart of a student leadership committee for Red Cross Clubs in Austin where we are able to not only learn more about how to make our club better for the community, but also about all the opportunities that Red Cross can offer for the members of our club.” The club’s involvement with the Red Cross of Austin reaps many benefits, including having an insight on future plans. “The Bowie Red Cross Club works with Red Cross of Austin and carries out some of their similar projects they have going for that month,” Winn said. “Some of the officers attend Austin Red Cross meetings downtown to get feedback on what each month is raising awareness for or working on.” The club is participating in a competition against local schools, like Westwood and Vandergrift. They are fundraising money for measles and rubella because they don’t have vaccinations in Africa. For every dollar the club gets, a child in Africa receives a vaccination. Promoting the club around the school with flyers has helped it grow in size. “We have 30 members as we just built the club from scratch since all of the previous members graduated,” Winn said. Similarly to many organizations involved at Bowie, the club is reliant on the weather in order to occur. “A bunch of our work is seasonal or is sudden due to weather disasters,” Newton said. Red Cross Club is mostly student run, with a few influences from the club sponsor. “As the sponsor, I allow my co-presidents to run the club as they see fit,” Kowalik said. “I provide some paper and markers for posting signs but I let them take the reins as far as how much or little they want to promote it and what service projects they choose to take on.” There are different reasons to why students join Red Cross Club such as providing a helping hand towards the community. “I joined it because I always knew what Red Cross was but all the different causes they work for or how far of a reach they had,” Newton said. “I was very interested in Red Cross because you always see them as responders to natural disasters or helping immunize children in Africa and overall they are a great organization that I would be foolish not to work in collaboration with.” The ability to create a difference in a person’s life has provided a sense of accomplishment for some club members. “Being in the club makes me feel involved in my community,” Newton said. “Rarely do we see a large number of high schoolers going out of their way to help people in other countries, let alone half way around the world.” The club can broaden a student’s outlook on aspects of life and how they take things for granted daily. “The Red Cross, and more specifically our club, is unique in the fact that it not only makes me feel like I’m actually making a difference in this world, but also that the entire club can make an impact on a person in need’s life who we haven’t even met,” Newton said. “It’s impossible to comprehend all of the hardships that people in this world have to go through, but for those of us privileged enough to not have to worry about it on a regular basis should do our best to ensure that everyone can live carefree.”

Caitlin Devlin

The hallways are bare and chilly this early Tuesday morning. Room C103 is being reserved for students that have chosen to make a difference in their local community. They have open discussions regarding threatening diseases and helping to prevent them, this is the daily life of a member of the Red Cross Club at James Bowie High School. Co-presidents of the club, juniors Madison Winn and Caleb Newton, along with their teacher sponsor science teacher Erin Kowalik, and some other members of the club, juniors Jolie Francis and Yasmine Ben-Brahim, each enjoy going to and participating in the club every week. As a high school representation of Red Cross of Austin, they have constant communication with the organization. “We actually have a contact in the Red Cross who works closely with all the clubs in Austin and we try to align ourselves with other schools and do activities at the same time,” Newton said. “Also, Madison and I are apart of a student leadership committee for Red Cross Clubs in Austin where we are able to not only learn more about how to make our club better for the community, but also about all the opportunities that Red Cross can offer for the members of our club.” The club’s involvement with the Red Cross of Austin reaps many benefits, including having an insight on future plans. “The Bowie Red Cross Club works with Red Cross of Austin and carries out some of their similar projects they have going for that month,” Winn said. “Some of the officers attend Austin Red Cross meetings downtown to get feedback on what each month is raising awareness for or working on.” The club is participating in a competition against local schools, like Westwood and Vandergrift. They are fundraising money for measles and rubella because they don’t have vaccinations in Africa. For every dollar the club gets, a child in Africa receives a vaccination. Promoting the club around the school with flyers has helped it grow in size. “We have 30 members as we just built the club from scratch since all of the previous members graduated,” Winn said. Similarly to many organizations involved at Bowie, the club is reliant on the weather in order to occur. “A bunch of our work is seasonal or is sudden due to weather disasters,” Newton said. Red Cross Club is mostly student run, with a few influences from the club sponsor. “As the sponsor, I allow my co-presidents to run the club as they see fit,” Kowalik said. “I provide some paper and markers for posting signs but I let them take the reins as far as how much or little they want to promote it and what service projects they choose to take on.” There are different reasons to why students join Red Cross Club such as providing a helping hand towards the community. “I joined it because I always knew what Red Cross was but all the different causes they work for or how far of a reach they had,” Newton said. “I was very interested in Red Cross because you always see them as responders to natural disasters or helping immunize children in Africa and overall they are a great organization that I would be foolish not to work in collaboration with.” The ability to create a difference in a person’s life has provided a sense of accomplishment for some club members. “Being in the club makes me feel involved in my community,” Newton said. “Rarely do we see a large number of high schoolers going out of their way to help people in other countries, let alone half way around the world.” The club can broaden a student’s outlook on aspects of life and how they take things for granted daily. “The Red Cross, and more specifically our club, is unique in the fact that it not only makes me feel like I’m actually making a difference in this world, but also that the entire club can make an impact on a person in need’s life who we haven’t even met,” Newton said. “It’s impossible to comprehend all of the hardships that people in this world have to go through, but for those of us privileged enough to not have to worry about it on a regular basis should do our best to ensure that everyone can live carefree.”

Kathleen Nguyen, Staff Writer
February 28, 2016

The hallways are bare and chilly this early Tuesday morning. Room C103 is being reserved for students that have chosen to make a difference in their local community. They have open discussions regarding threatening diseases and helping to prevent them, this is the daily life of a member of the Red Cross Club at James Bowie High School.

Co-presidents of the club, juniors Madison Winn and Caleb Newton, along with their teacher sponsor science teacher Erin Kowalik, and some other members of the club, juniors Jolie Francis and Yasmine Ben-Brahim, each enjoy going to and participating in the club every week.

As a high school representation of Red Cross of Austin, they have constant communication with the organization.

“We actually have a contact in the Red Cross who works closely with all the clubs in Austin and we try to align ourselves with other schools and do activities at the same time,”  Newton said. “Also, Madison and I are apart of a student leadership committee for Red Cross Clubs in Austin where we are able to not only learn more about how to make our club better for the community, but also about all the opportunities that Red Cross can offer for the members of our club.”

The club’s involvement with the Red Cross of Austin reaps many benefits, including having an insight on future plans.

“The Bowie Red Cross Club works with Red Cross of Austin and carries out some of their similar projects they have going for that month,” Winn said. “Some of the officers attend Austin Red Cross meetings downtown to get feedback on what each month is raising awareness for or working on.”

The club is participating in a competition against local schools, like Westwood and Vandergrift.  They are fundraising money for measles and rubella because they don’t have vaccinations in Africa.  For every dollar the club gets, a child in Africa receives a vaccination.

Promoting the club around the school with flyers has helped it grow in size.

“We have 30 members as we just built the club from scratch since all of the previous members graduated,” Winn said.

Similarly to many organizations involved at Bowie, the club is reliant on the weather in order to occur.

“A bunch of our work is seasonal or is sudden due to weather disasters,” Newton said.

Red Cross Club is mostly student run, with a few influences from the club sponsor.

“As the sponsor, I allow my co-presidents to run the club as they see fit,” Kowalik said. “I provide some paper and markers for posting signs but I let them take the reins as far as how much or little they want to promote it and what service projects they choose to take on.”

There are different reasons to why students join Red Cross Club such as providing a helping hand towards the community.

“I joined it because I always knew what Red Cross was but all the different causes they work for or how far of a reach they had,” Newton said. “I was very interested in Red Cross because you always see them as responders to natural disasters or helping immunize children in Africa and overall they are a great organization that I would be foolish not to work in collaboration with.”

The ability to create a difference in a person’s life has provided a sense of accomplishment for some club members.

“Being in the club makes me feel involved in my community,” Newton said. “Rarely do we see a large number of high schoolers going out of their way to help people in other countries, let alone half way around the world.”

The club can broaden a student’s outlook on aspects of life and how they take things for granted daily.

“The Red Cross, and more specifically our club, is unique in the fact that it not only makes me feel like I’m actually making a difference in this world, but also that the entire club can make an impact on a person in need’s life who we haven’t even met,” Newton said. “It’s impossible to comprehend all of the hardships that people in this world have to go through, but for those of us privileged enough to not have to worry about it on a regular basis should do our best to ensure that everyone can live carefree.”