Area is the first competition that Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) holds during the year. Klein Collins HOSA is a part of Area Six. Area gives HOSA members the opportunity to explore future careers in healthcare and develop skills useful for a career in healthcare. The top three competitors from area advance to state and top state competitors advance to nationals. Of the students competing, six students have advanced to the state competition approaching in April 2020.

“I am so unbelievably proud of those that made it to state, every single one of them has proven their dedication and abilities in the competition,” Health Science teacher Stephanie Baker said. “I love watching [the students] work hard for a common goal.” 

According to Baker, students must put in hard work as well as the advisors, but when it comes down to it all credit goes towards the winners.

“I think in general the students should be credited with their own wins,” Baker said. “They [the students] work hard and put in long hours to prepare for competition. We, as advisors, try to keep the students on track and offer any help that we can but at the end of the day the winners deserve all of the credit.”

HOSA’s competitive events are provided to encourage students to challenge themselves, recognize the work put into different medical positions and to motivate competitors to test their knowledge and skills in different regions of healthcare and medicine. 

“I chose to compete because I was very interested in my event and competing allowed me to learn more about a career in pharmacy and it helped me be better prepared for potentially going to pharmacy school,” junior Nathan Rather said.

In order to qualify for state, students must rank top three in their event. Some events include making a poster, presenting a speech or even teaching students a lesson. Senior Rhea Alex and her group competed and succeeded in Health Education.

“My groups event required us to teach a lesson to a group of students, so we prepared that 45 minute lesson, created a portfolio about the presentation, and then gave a speech in front of judges about why our lesson was effective,” Alex said. “My group met countless times and I’m proud of how well we prepared.”

HOSA is an international student organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. According to hosa.org, HOSA’s goal is to encourage all health science instructors and students to join and be actively involved in bettering the medical field’s future.

“I would recommend HOSA and competition to anyone who has even the slightest interested in going into the medical field,” sophomore Nghi Tran said. “There are so many opportunities available in HOSA, not just academically, but you can also make valuable memories and lifelong friends.”

State competition will take place in Galveston April on 1-3. State competition is where the top competitors from each area will come together to compete against one another in their same event to decide who will advance to the International Conference.