Student uses senior project to promote Red Cross

River View High School student Mackenzie Hudson used her senior class project to help promote the Red Cross, specifically its Safety City program and learn to swim lessons. She is pictured here after setting up a display for Safety City in the window of the United Way of Coshocton County office on Main Street. Josie Sellers | Beacon

COSHOCTON – Mackenzie Hudson has been involved with the American Red Cross for a long time.

“It’s like a second family and fit right in with my senior project,” she said.

Hudson is a senior at River View High School which started a senior project program with the class of 2017. The students were encouraged to base their project on something they are interested in or a problem in the community they would like to solve.

Hudson has been involved with the Red Cross since she was a child and decided to use her project to help them get ready for swimming lessons and Safety City and hopefully recruit more volunteers.

“This has made me appreciate the volunteers a whole lot more,” she said. “There is a lot of work that goes into making these things happen. They don’t just happen overnight.”

Hudson herself has assisted with and participated in the Learn to Swim classes and is now a certified water safety instructor.

“I started helping teach when I graduated from the swimming program at 9 and my mom was a water safety instructor so I’d go in with her and help with the kids,” Hudson said. “I just really loved it and wanted to keep coming back.”

She also has been a Red Cross lifeguard since she was 15 and has helped with Safety City since she was 13.

The River View seniors needed a community mentor to help them with their project and Hudson’s was Sher Alloway from the Red Cross.

“I love Sher,” Hudson said. “I’ve known her a long time and she’s been a role model to me. There is so much she does for the Red Cross and she does it because she wants to.”

Alloway also had nothing but praise for Hudson.

“I’ve worked with her for a number of years and she’s always been willing to do anything we needed,” Alloway said. “She’s taught swimming lessons, taught at Safety City last year and is a life guard instructor and will be doing her first class solo on May 12.”

Swim lessons this summer will be held in the evenings, July 5-18 at Lake Park and in the mornings July 19 – Aug. 1 at the pool in Warsaw. Safety City will be the first week in August for seven business days and there will be a morning and evening session. For more information on these programs, call Alloway at 740-202-0898.

Cindy Hemming was the senior project coordinator for River View and is proud of what Hudson accomplished.

“Mackenzie brings an infectious energy and enthusiasm to everything she does,” Hemming said. “She doesn’t accept responsibility, she seeks it. Mackenzie has a strong commitment to her community as exhibited in her senior project.”

Hemming believes the senior projects were beneficial to the students.

“I feel that the senior project develops high achieving and responsible students and they can transfer these skills to college or the workplace,” Hemming said.

After graduation, Hudson plans to attend The Ohio State University and major in civil engineering.

“I’m going to come back though and help with these Red Cross programs,” she said.

Category: Education