At the BOS center in Springfield, future health professionals gathered from March 18-20 for the HOSA (Healthcare Occupational Students of America) State Leadership Conference, showcasing their skills in competitions from medical assisting to forensic science, showcasing their intelligence at the national level.
“HOSA is a group, it’s nationwide, so it’s all different states. They prioritize healthcare professionals, then hold competitions every year where you can study different categories of healthcare, qualify for the nationals, and compete against other students,” said OH senior Jordan Sheets. “It’s just a very large community of networking for healthcare.”
HOSA had much education to offer; the amount of diversity and variety was fundamental.
Throughout this competition, there are many fields of work. Competitions include hands-on demonstration, writing, speech, teamwork, and more.
“If you do qualify for state, you start studying different coursework, such as, I know for sportsmen, I had to do some anatomical landmarkings, like different body parts and labeling them, and knowing how to spell them. And then, um, a scale of some sort, there were different tapings and different kinds of ranges of motion that I had to identify and measure,” Sheets said.
For this competition, to apply, students must take a required exam. Based on this exam, they’ll get back to the individuals and inform them if they made it.
“I took an exam in November,” Sheets said. “Mr. [Brian] Cronin actually asked me [to compete] And, I mean, why not? I plan on pursuing sports med in college, so it’s kind of pretty awesome. You take a test in the fall, and then they release your results in late December.”
Throughout this process, depending on which section you’re in, you may have to show physical evidence of yourself in action.
OH senior Jayde LeGraff, said, “Most people took a test at the beginning of December, and that is how you qualify for the state competition, but some students had to submit things like pictures and videos.”
“They also had me do a skill on one of my tapings.,” adds LeGraff. ¨About a week or two before, on the state competition, that went towards my cumulative, little score, that goes towards, um, depending on if I qualify for nationals or not. So, we spent, like, three days down in Springfield first day.”
LeGraff and Sheets also participated in some teamwork activities for the competition.
“I also competed, like, EA case study with another student, Jade LeGraf. We did some physician assistant test about two weeks before the state. It was, like, a different sportsman, and then we did a physical case study at state… which then placed us in the top 10, which we got, like, a little pin, but only the top three go to nationals. So we sadly did not get to advance,” said Sheets.
Competitors receive prizes for ranking, LeGraff said. “Students compete for the top 3 in their event so they can go to nationals. For the top 3, they get to not only go to nationals, but they also get a medal for their place,” she added. “For example, first place gets a gold medal. For everyone in the top 10, including people who made the top 3, they get pins that say HOSA State Finalist.”
Let alone placing, this competition was an experience. There were thousands of people involved.
Sheets said, “My favorite part of being at HOSA was the community and the people that were there. It was so great. It was wonderful. The opportunities that we were given, we got to listen in on some presentations. So I got to network with some athletic terms from the higher levels, such as college. So it was just a great experience. The community was awesome.”
Hello! My name is Tristan Acosta and I'm a junior at Oswego High School, this is my first year of being on the 42Fifty staff. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
Hi, my name is Peyton. I'm a junior in highschool and it's my first year on staff. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication.
