Shorter student uses tragedy to spread importance of organ donation

Shorter University business major Marcus Holloway takes the concept of organ donation to heart.

The senior, who hails from Silver Creek and is a graduate of Pepperell High School, was one out of an elite group of 25 business students from around the nation selected to participate in the Sigma Beta Delta Inaugural Leadership Academy held in San Diego, California.

As part of the leadership event, Holloway, along with the other participants, worked in groups to come up with a service-oriented project designed to better humankind. Holloway's project focused on revamping the process of becoming an organ donor and changing the perception of organ donation.

The decision to focus on organ donation was a very personal one for Holloway. Just a few days before Marcus left for the academy, he learned that his friend's 19-year-old brother was killed in an automobile accident. The young man who was killed was an organ donor, and Holloway believes that even though such a tragedy had taken place, the fact that his friend's organs were donated after his death gave some measure of comfort to the family he left behind.

"After the accident, my friend's mom had such a strong faith. She was upset, but such a rock for everyone. Each day she would talk about Chase being an organ donor and how someone else was benefiting from Chase and how proud he would be of that," said Holloway.

Holloway said that after constantly thinking about the wreck and the undeniable hope that came from it, he wanted to help Chase's positive impact continue. So at the academy, Holloway, along with a group of his peers, sat down and formulated a plan to increase awareness of organ donation and to make the process of signing up easier and more convenient.

After formally presenting their projects to their peers, a panel of judges selected the top five projects. Holloway's came in at number three. "I was thrilled that our project was so well received. Being selected for the academy was an honor in itself, but I feel like the project I worked on educated a lot of students about organ donation," Holloway said. "To this day, over 40 people have been helped by Chase's choice to donate. Whether it was organs, retinas or skin, his impact on the world will live on for generations because he, being selfless, gave hope to so many others. Why wouldn't we all want that?"