Have you heard of HOSA, but don’t know what it is? Have you wanted to join but not known details about it? Well, HOSA (or Health Occupational Students of America) is Harrison’s part in the global student-led organization for health studies for students having to do with all things biomed (or biomedical). If you want to be a nurse, doctor, medical technician, forensic scientist, or pursue any other health care career, this is the student organization for you.
There are four classes within the HOSA program: first, Principles of Biomedical Science, which starts with forensic investigation and then ends with an overview of medical careers. Then, Human Body Systems, which examines anatomy and physiology. Medical Intervention comes next, covering diagnosis and treatments of genetic disorders. Lastly, Biomedical Innovations rounds off the four-year program, and is a capstone project based course that fuses all of the three previous courses into an independent research project. Depending on the end of course exam results for the first three courses, students may also receive college credit.
The program is best for anyone interested in the health or medical field in their post-high school lives. In this program, your interests and knowledge will grow through field trips to hospitals, universities. Students end this program with a much better understanding of the medical field than they had coming in, ready to head to the next level of their training.
HOSA has competitions throughout the year to test your specialized skills against other schools in the HOSA program, similar to Harrison’s other four letter program, DECA. This year, students competed in Medical Terminology, Forensics, Physical Therapy, Human Growth and Development, Dental Science, Pharmacy Science, Medical Reading, Medical Law and Ethics, Pharmacology, and Phlebotomy. This year, HOSA had 19 students qualify for state after the regional level.
These students include Nicole Zhang who won 1st in Dental Science, Emily Jacobs and Maggie Poynter who both won in 4th in Forensic Science, Ridge Owens who won 2nd in Medical Spelling, James Kirby who won 3rd in Pharmacy Science, Bailey Fiebig who won 3rd in Cultural Diversity, Charlotte Lewis who won 4th in Human Growth and Development, Jessica Deiser who won 1st in Human Growth and Development, Connor Davis who won 2nd in Medical Law and Ethics, Ella Price who won 3rd in Medical Reading, Mallory Nixon who won 2nd in Medical Reading, Maura Burger who won 3rd in Pharmacology, Jay Vogel who won 4th in Phlebotomy, Kiley Wade who won 3rd in Phlebotomy, and Grace Stehlin who won 2nd in Phlebotomy. Congratulations to all!
HOSA students have positive things about the program, including Junior Maggie Poynter who said, “It’s an opportunity to be able to help us grow more and more in the medical field as a high schooler. Having these experiences will help us later on in the medical field. It’s a cool opportunity, and if people have the chance they should try it.” Junior Emerson Brunner said HOSA is a “cool hands on experience… and fun to do.”
Overall, HOSA is an important step into the career of any student wanting to go into the medical field, and it’s absolutely something that should be considered if you are interested in biomed.
