Educating Teens About Organ, Eye & Tissue Donation

Last year, LifeShare opened our new headquarters and Donor Care Center. This building gives us the chance to bring organ, eye, and tissue recovery in-house. While the space has allowed us to save more lives, it has also become a place to teach young minds. In March of 2024, we proudly hosted our first high school field trip as part of our youth education program, Beyond the DMV: Exploring Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation. We offer three options to accommodate different teachers' needs.

On-Site Full Field Trip

A high school student holds a human liver during the anatomy lesson in our Beyond the DMV field trip.

When students arrive, they first get to see our Wall of Hope, a beautiful tribute to our donors. Then they get a quick tour of the facility with a preview of what they will learn throughout the day. After that, they get a brief overview of organ, eye, and tissue donation. Students are then split into small groups for the hands-on part of the day. Each group visits four locations for a more in-depth look into different parts of the donation process. In our donor care bays, students learn how we care for donors when they arrive at our facility. They learn how our equipment works and how it helps us maintain the patient's safety leading up to the organ recovery surgery. Students also get a special lesson on organ anatomy. They get to see the organs up close, touch them, and learn more about how the organs work. Winners of a Kahoot! contest get to put on scrubs and get their anatomy lesson in our surgical suites where the organ recovery surgery takes place. One student says it was a very cool and informative experience, "I’ve taken anatomy classes, but it was different getting to see the human organs and human eyes. It’s always different than it is in a textbook. It was a very informative very cool experience." They also visit our tissue and eye labs to learn more about the lifesaving benefits of these donations. Students hear from people who received tissue and eye transplants to better understand the reasons a transplant could be needed and how the transplant changes the lives of recipients.

Classroom Experience

We have a great option for our teachers who aren't able to take their students off campus. Our team will come to you for an in-class presentation about organ, eye, and tissue donation. Students will be given a full overview of donation, hear the myths and misconceptions, and learn more about the different jobs in our industry. Our organ preservation coordinators will also come to the classroom to provide a hands-on organ anatomy lesson in your classroom.