Future Health Professionals, or Health Occupations Students of America, (HOSA), is one of the Career Technical Student Organizations that allows students who are interested in the medical field to be exposed to the most current events in science. This includes state and national competitions in addition to conferences, which students develop and use their leadership skills, as well as learn about the different medical fields.

Pareen Mhatre ‘18 decided to start a new chapter at West High School when she found out about the organization through a family member, “I have a niece who is a senior at a high school in Texas and I recently came into contact with her and she told me about HOSA, and she told me it was an organization for students who want to pursue medicine.” Mhatre said. She was motivated to form this new Chapter in order to gain more experience in the field of medicine, “I wanted to become a pediatrician since I was seven years old. Up until now I haven’t done anything to actually help me and others get where I want to be, but I mean I think starting a chapter that involves medicine can help expose us to where we want to go.” Mhatre said.

In addition, there are in state competitions across the US and if they qualify, they go to a national competition in Orlando, Florida. In the competition students have the opportunity to compete in several events, ranging from dental terminology to veterinary science.

Students at West are looking forward to participate in a few of events at the competition. One of these events is the HOSA Bowl. In this event a team of 3-4 students take a written test as well as higher-order thinking skills. The top two teams then compete by answering questions asked by a moderator. After a series of elimination rounds a team is the first place winner. Another event students are going to compete in is the Biomedical Debate. This consists of a written test and then a debate for first place.

8 students from West High also had the opportunity to participate in the Iowa Leadership Conference in Des Moines, Iowa on October 16 and 17. About 150 students from across Iowa engaged in activities which involved teamwork and logic. “It was fun. It was cool to see how a lot of their school has a lot of members. Like Sioux Cities had three schools come all at once so they had a really big group. It was more of a learning experience.” said Mason Degrazia ’18.

During the conference Kent Julian, a motivational speaker, inspired the students about making their dreams a reality. He first started working with youth in nonprofit organizations because a motivational speaker positively impacted his life when he was in high school. He believes students can be successful and believes HOSA is an advocate of that. “HOSA is an outstanding organization. I think the fact that they help students develop into leaders while focusing on a very specific industry is what makes them so unique as an organization.” Julian said.

On top of their children showing interest, many parents support the organization and want to see the new chapter here at West grow. Jan Rinker, who was a chaperone to the recent leadership conference said “They give a lot of information about what’s going on in the the health and science world. But it also gives a lot opportunities for the kids to learn about different programs that are out there and different parts of health and science fields.”

“HOSA is an outstanding organization. I think the fact that they help students develop into leaders while focusing on a very specific industry is what makes them so unique as an organization.”

– Kent Julian

Due to the variety of events in HOSA, students are able to find their interests and learn about them. It provides opportunities to work with professionals, listen to guest speakers and build your application. “They can start collecting their information through their high school years; almost like an online resume but it’s not. Like collecting your information of your scores for ACT or PSAT, your clubs. All of your information so that you’re available for scholarships and grants. And they’ll search for them for you.” Rinker said. “I think it’s a great club with many opportunities for the students that are a part of it.”