Late nights of studying and last-minute presentations paid off for the HOSA chapter, as nearly every member placed at the state competition. HOSA is a student-led organization that prepares future health professionals through contests, leadership opportunities, and hands-on medical practices. With two students securing fourth and fifth place respectively, the team showcased their skills through research posters and medical photography. Their dedication outweighed these challenges, allowing them to have composure throughout the competition.
HOSA is a student-led organization that prepares future health professionals through contests, leadership opportunities, and hands-on medical practices. Senior President Dylan Widmann explained, “All the competitions are health-care-based; there are CPR events and health group posters that educate people on various healthcare topics. You can compete as part of a team or individually.” To qualify for the state competition, students must rank in the top seven in each event at the regional competition. To compete at nationals, students must place in the top three of each event at the state competition. Hos
Eight students qualified for the state competition this year, but none advanced to nationals. Advisor Allyson Romero elaborated, “In the past two years, we’ve had students placing in the top three, which qualifies them for internationals. This year, we did not place in the top three; however, two students were recognized for fourth and fifth places.” Jayden Cunningham and Dylan Widmann were the two students who ranked in the top five. Widmann remarked, “The biggest challenge is that we didn’t have many people wanting to compete, so we had limited representation.” Although no students qualified for nationals, this team proved their dedication through their impressive rankings.
Senior Treasure Addison Sroufe elaborated on her experience, “We performed overall pretty great and a lot of it was our first time. Everybody was very excited to try out something new.” Despite the lower success rate this year, Sroufe has remained grateful for the opportunities this program has given her.
Romero also appreciates the student’s dedication. Romero claimed, “Speaking for Addison, who did a research project, it included statistics and stuff, being able to be clever with her stats teacher was cool to see a bunch of hands involved. She was involved with all the athletes, she sent out questions, and so she just put a lot of work into it. Same with Dylan, being able to take photos of different healthcare providers on campus and then going out of his way to photograph other providers is cool.”
As there are many effective ways to prepare, students prefer studying, memorizing, and testing before their competition. Despite challenges, HOSA demonstrated hard work and dedication throughout the competition. Their commitment this year sets a high standard for next year’s competition.
