The Blood Assurance Foundation is proud to announce the 2012 winners of its Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship.

Eleven students received the $1,500 scholarship to assist with their educational expenses, including Rebecca Michaels, North Sand Mountain School; Hannah Bradford, Dade County High School; Jeb Johnson, Soddy Daisy High School; Natalie Tracy, Gordon Lee High School;, Madeline Jorges, Trion High School; Amelia Sarrell, Dade County High School; Conner Kapperman, Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences; Maggie Bain, Lincoln County High School; Derek Roberts, Polk County High School; Hannah Wimberley, St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School; and Kellie Day, Soddy Daisy High School.

Crystal Green, who graduated from Dade County High School, was a student at Georgia Southern University before suffering a setback with aplastic anemia. After hundreds of hours of platelet transfusions and a bone marrow transplant, Crystal lost her long battle in November 1998, shortly after turning 21.

In her honor, Blood Assurance established the scholarship fund in 1999 for high school students seeking to better themselves and aspiring to give back to their communities. To date, 142 scholarships have been awarded.

Scholarship applicants are judged on a written application, high school transcript, school and community service, letters of recommendation and a marketing plan for a blood drive.

Eligible students must attend a school which participates in Blood Assurance’s Project Lifeline, a series of blood drives held at local high schools. Seniors must have at least a “B” average and score at least a 20 on the ACT or 1100 on the SAT.

Project Lifeline blood drives collected 13,581 units of blood during the 2011-12 school year. Ninety-eight high schools participate in Project Lifeline, and 16.2 percent of Blood Assurance donors are under the age of 20.

In addition to the Crystal Green Memorial Scholarship, Blood Assurance presents six trophies annually to commemorate outstanding efforts by area high schools. Schools are divided into divisions based on the number of graduating seniors. Division I is for larger schools with 150 or more graduating seniors. Division II is for smaller schools with 149 seniors or less.

In Division I, Southeast Whitfield High School earned trophies for most donations and highest participation, while Ringgold High School earned the award for highest improvement. In Division II, Dade County High School earned the trophy for most donations, while Richard Hardy High School earned the award for highest participation. North Sand Mountain earned the trophy for highest improvement.

For more information, visit bloodassurance.org or call 800-962-0628.