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This year’s Stuyvesant blood drives are at risk because organizers cannot find available space to hold the events.The gyms, where previous blood drives have been held, might not be available due to after school team practices or games, and there may not be an available space in the school building until February.Last year, Stuyvesant held three blood drives, with one in each gym and the third in the first floor lobby. Other possible locations include the Murray Kahn Theater and the library.If a space to hold a first blood drive is not found soon, scheduling three blood drives this year will be impossible.“There must be 59 days in between blood drives,” senior and blood drive co-coordinator Philip Chang said. “And the availability of the gym is very limited.”The first blood drive of this school year is tentatively scheduled to be held in the gym on Friday, February 1, 2008.“I don’t know if it can happen, since there are practices and games held in the gym,” Assistant Principal Physical Education and Health Martha Singer said. “It’s up to the organization and the blood drive coordinators if they can meet that date.”Physical education classes would not be able to use the gym during blood drives. Said Singer, “Both are good causes, but I’m here to protect my department and my department’s instruction.”New York Blood Center, which helps organize Stuyvesant’s blood drives, has not yet confirmed the date, though they had hoped to hold one as early as November.“We proposed November if not December but [the Stuyvesant] administration came back with February,” New York Blood Center Account Manager Denise Omenih said in an e-mail. The student organizers have been working with the administration to find possible dates.Stuyvesant’s inability to find room for a blood drive has hurt the Blood Center’s city-wide donation goals. “Opting out of the blood drive at this time creates quite a strain on our ability to replace what we were hoping to collect from your school,” said Omenih.Stuyvesant has been a major contributor to the Blood Center in the past. The school donated on average 121 pints of blood at each of the three drives last year.In 2005, along with High School for the Humanities and Regis High School, Stuyvesant won the New York Yankees High School Blood Donor Championships contest by donating the most blood in Manhattan. As a reward, students who donated were offered free Yankee tickets.Omenih said, “Having the blood drive in an alternate space should not change the level of participation providing there are proper communication and an adequate campaign structure.”The gym is an ideal place to hold the blood drive, because it is the largest enclosed area. It is big enough to hold the students who will be registering, donating and resting after donating blood.Since it would require much of the available space, a blood drive in the first floor lobby would pose a fire hazard “People are not too keen with the idea of donating blood in such an open space,” senior and blood drive co-coordinator Sara Yoon said.“I’m glad the lobby is no longer an option, because giving blood in such an open space would violate my privacy,” sophomore Candice Bautista said.The Blood Drive might also be organized in the theater. “Any place to donate blood is great. The blood drive can take place in the theater, but there is a chance that concerts and rehearsals could be going on,” Assistant Principal Music and Fine Arts Dr. Raymond Wheeler said.Another possible location is the school library. “I don’t think it would be the best to have it here,” librarian Chris Asch said. “It would be inconvenient for everyone. Kids won’t be able to do their work, because the library would be closed and we would have to move all the furniture to make space. Also, the library is not that big, so it would inconvenience the people who run the blood drive,” he said.“I plan on donating blood,” senior Rene Grant said. “But it would be unusual to hold the Blood Drive in the theater or the library. They’re both pretty small.”Other students agreed. “It would be kind of weird to be giving blood in such a cramped space,” Bautista said.“The two other possible options are small compared to the gym, but I don’t think that should be the main focus,” sophomore Kyle Hom said. “We shouldn’t care about where we hold it, but we should care more about the fact that we are working for a good cause.”