Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) is one of State High’s many clubsHOSA in general is an international organization that strives to empower members to become leaders in healthcare and prepare them to work in the medical field through education, experience, leadership opportunities, and more.  

The HOSA club at State High is for people who want to go into medicine or want to learn more about medicine. “It’s a very fun experience for people who want to go into the medical field,” sophomore Emily Chen said. 

During some club meetings, Penn State University students will come in, and do a case study with the high school students so they can learn more about different conditions.

Sophomore Ainsley Martin explained more on the idea of HOSA. “We’re a club with a lot of people who are interested in medicine,” she said.

HOSA brings many individuals together who share a similar passion for healthcare, and provides students the opportunity to display the skills they have learned. “So we have competitions, and we just had our state competition,” Martin said. 

This year, HOSA memebers went to their competition in Lancaster, PA. At the competition there are three different events, tests, hands-on, and teamwork.

 “A lot of people or a couple people from our school did well and got medals,” Martin said. 

The test section of the competition typically has 50-100 multiple-choice questions. An initial test may be given at school or before traveling for States where a second round of testing will be administered. In the hands-on section of the competition events such as Nursing Assisting and Sports Medicine consist of a hands-on skill portion for top-scoring students on the written exam. 

For the teamwork portion of the competition, they do teamwork events such as creative problem-solving and biomedical debate, which allow students to work in a team to create a project, debate, and present. “The teamwork events are a little bit easier because you have other people to rely on,” Chen explained. 

Other than the competition, HOSA does things like bingo night, a dance, and shopping. During this year’s competition, students had extra time for outside activities. 

“We got to go shopping, and at the hotel, it was great in general, everybody’s awesome,” Martin said. 

At home, HOSA also works with local nursing homes to decorate their facilities during the holiday seasons and create care packages and cards.

“We decorated the retirement homes during Christmas to make them feel more festive,” Chen said. 

HOSA has a really good environment and is recommended for people who are interested in health.  “It’s really fun especially if you have friends in it you can do a lot of stuff,” Martin said. 

For students interested and health and looking for a club to join, HOSA might be a great fit.