Last week, the Rocky Mountain HOSA club went to state championships in Denver, and they took home the first-place and third-place prizes. Three students made a presentation that won first place in the state and one student placed third in top scores for an exam. Many different opportunities were available at the conference. The students qualified to go to internationals on June 22nd.

“I enjoyed the volunteer opportunities,” sophomore Mariela Douglas said.  

HOSA stands for Health Occupations Students of America, but it was recently changed to Future Healthcare Professionals. The club is designed for students who wish to pursue careers in medical health care, or health science. 

The HOSA coordinators at the school are Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Adams, and Ms. Wyllie. The president of the club is Ava Steger and the vice president is Neocha Martin. Students who are a part of the club go to a competition and they participate in events that could advance their knowledge of what it is like to have a job in the medical profession. 

At the conference, Sydney Schlepp, Mariela Douglas, and Dahlia French gave a presentation on insomnia and the effects of it. All of the students are sophomores at Rocky, and they are considering pursuing a medical career in the future. 

When asked if she was nervous for internationals, Dahlia French said, “I don’t think I’m nervous yet.” Internationals are this summer, so they are still a long time away.

The conference had different booths set up that allowed the students to walk around and look at the different medical opportunities and information about them. The students were very proud of their presentation, and they were excited but nervous to present it. 

“I was surprised because it was our first time, but I was super happy,” Sydney Schlepp said. The 1st place winning students had not been a part of HOSA until this school year. 

Ava Steger, a junior at Rocky, placed third in pathophysiology, which is the study and process of different diseases and injuries. She took an exam and placed third out of about 30 other competitors. Ava says she chose to study pathophysiology because, “when I started actually researching and putting effort into learning pathophysiology, I ended up really liking it and using it in my everyday life.” 

She studied 3-4 hours for three days before she took her exam, watching college-level class recordings. Her studying paid off and allowed her to get a high score. 

Ava is thinking about attending internationals, but there is not much funding for HOSA yet, so it might be difficult to get all four of these students there. 

‘Bos, if you see any of these students in the hallway make sure to congratulate them on their big win!