On March 16-17, 2023, The Lakota West Exercise Science HOSA Chapter competed in a State-wide competition for the opportunity to go to the International Conference.
HOSA is a club that is offered at Lakota West High School. It’s for future health professionals of America, and gives students the opportunity to compete in a variety of different competitions related to the field of healthcare. The competitions range from dentistry to EMTs to forensic sciences. You may be required to perform a skill, take a test, give a presentation, etc.
In addition to all the competitions offered, there are many different workshops being run at the conference that give students the opportunity to learn about leadership, internships, and different roles they can play in the healthcare world.
HOSA collaborates with Anatomage – A 3D anatomy visualization and virtual dissection tool – to offer students a state only event where teams will work together to identify different parts of the body. The top eight teams from the tournament advance to the ILC (International Leadership Conference).
The Lakota West Exercise Science chapter of HOSA is advised by Mrs. Nikki Roether and Mr. Mike Brown. Their role is to help prepare the students for their competitions with the proper materials they need to do their best, but it truly is in the hands of the students to put in the work to advance.
For the state competition, students rode on a bus up to Columbus, Ohio, and got to stay overnight in a hotel connected to the convention center. Butler tech provided funding for all of the students meals, transportation, and hotel rooms.
Salina Oli, a HOSA member, said that, “The two days for me were very different, but fun. The people were amazing and super helpful. Night at the hotel was the best part among all!”
Some events have a round one test. These tests were taken on the Monday before the state conference. The high schools manage these tests, but the students don’t find out if they passed until the first day of the conference.
After the students arrived at the convention center there was a grand opening session where those who had a round one test learned if they had advanced. After that there were two blocks of time during the day where students would participate in their round two events. Those without round one tests competed in their event at the same time as the round two competitors.
At the end of the day, there was an entertainment session. There was a lot of dancing and laughing. A hypnotist did a performance and took volunteers from the audience so competitors could see their own friends getting hypnotized. After the entertainment session, competitors were dismissed to go to their rooms.
On Friday morning there was a final session. It was during this session that students learned who had advanced to nationals in Texas. The Exercise Science HOSA had 4 competitors advance in their event, as well as 5 competitors from the Anatomage team. The following people are the qualifiers: Ellie Brite and Zoe Miller – CERT Skills, Carter Willbrand – Clinical Laboratory Science, Arianna Strunk – ATC Career Development Test, Camryn Broz, Lauren Nelson, Nicki Klosterman, Carter Willbrand, and Will Allen – Anatomage.
Stella Wade, a HOSA member, commented that “HOSA is an incredible opportunity for students at Lakota West to explore different health careers. For [her], being able to go to the state conference was an amazing experience and so much fun. The workshops and events were so helpful and [she has] really learned so much this past year.”
