Health Occupations Students of America is a national student organization founded in 1976 and endorsed by the U.S Department of Education and the Health Science Education Division. Since 1976, HOSA has grown progressively, and there are currently 47 chartered HOSA State Associations and about 120,000 active members. HOSA provides each member with endless opportunities to help enhance their experience in the health field.
“I love HOSA,” junior Kayla Stovall said. “It has been such a great experience filled with amazing opportunities. I have learned so much and it has also helped me think about what I want to be in the future.”
On Feb. 17 and 18, HOSA competitions will take place in Irving. There are numerous competitions in which students can participate in such as medical careers, zombie apocalypse, medical photography, forensic medicine and much more.
“I participated in the competition last year and it was a great experience,” junior Jessica Gibson said. “I decided to participate in it again this year.”
The goal of students participating in the competition is to get through area and be able to go onto the state competition which will be held in San Antonio. Once at state, students from all over Texas compete against one another in hopes to move on to nationals.
“I did HOSA competition in grade 10 and what I loved about it was meeting new people,” senior and president of HOSA Alex Byron said. “Getting through the area level competition was nerve-racking but when we advanced to state, it was a great moment of relief knowing that my team’s work had paid off.”
With so many competitions to choose from, it is hard to choose just one. Some competitions can be done individually or with a team.
“This year my team and I will be doing a competition on zombie apocalypse,” Stovall said. “Our task is to educate our audience on what to do in case of a zombie invasion and inform them of all the dangers they could be in. I am really excited to compete.”
People can start competing as early as sophomore year and continue competing every year since. They can either compete in the same competition as they did the year before or participate in a new one.
“Last year I competed in medical photography and there was this waiting room before you go meet the judges,” junior Abdullah Tirmeezie said. “I really bonded with all sorts of photographers around Texas, and some of us became really great friends. This year I am hoping to meet them again and maybe make some more friends.”
With the competitions coming up, students are preparing everything they need and adding final touches to their projects. By allowing students to participate in competitions against their peers and providing multiple choices for them to choose from HOSA has given students a feel for how the health industry is.
“The competition itself was only one part of the experience though, the other part was engaging in the activities they provided for us,” Byron said. “All in all, HOSA competition was a very positive experience for me and because of that, I love when people are interested in competition.”
