Priya Malek pushed past more than panic on the morning of May 7 in order to donate blood at the third annual drive held at John Jay HS Campus in Park Slope. “Last time, I fainted,” the 19-year-old senior said sadly. Priya was one of 135 students and teachers who rolled up their sleeves to save lives through a joint effort with Maimonides Hospital. As Priya sees it, “to give a bottle of blood once a year is no big thing for me, but it’s a big thing for someone who needs it to live.” No big thing? Patricia Bradley, a John Jay speech therapist and a blood-drive organizer, disagrees: “I was impressed that Priya came back this year,” she said, laughing. “People say teenagers are self-centered. Isn’t it great that they’re wrong?” Take 19-year-old Samantha Thompson who, as president of her school’s National Honor Society, is charged with creating a fundraising event. Rather than organizing, say, a talent show, she created a PowerPoint presentation to promote the blood drive and rallied her fellow students to donate. In the end, 95 percent of the donors were students. Bradley and John Jay campus co-organizers, guidance counselor Angelina Ramos (who put her button maker to good use) and school dean Jason Otto, were proud of the results: the hospital gained 95 units of blood. Maimonides staff members, however, had to settle for Samantha’s sweat and tears. They couldn’t have her blood. “I’m anemic,” Samantha said. “I knew it, but I really wanted to try. I’ll get my iron up and keep trying.”