Last Wednesday, October 7th, the HOSA Club held its first meeting of the year. Senior Camyle Pliopa, the club’s president this year, invited all of the ILS community to see what the club has to offer.

The main goal of HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) is to expose students to the health science field and give them the opportunity to compete against other students locally and nationally. These competitions test students in various areas of the health science field. The club and the competitions help to encourage a positive and productive learning environment for the students.

During last week’s meeting, the club discussed the different levels of competition. First comes the District and Regional Conference, then the State Leadership Conference (SLC), and lastly International Leadership Conference (ILC). Students must participate and qualify in each competition in order to move on to the next level. To prepare for the competitions, students are expected to read the event guidelines, study the resources, practice their presentation skills and review the products of past event winners.

Each competitive event has been modified to fit within a virtual environment. All tests will be conducted online and the event will be judged via video recording of presentations uploaded to “Tallo.”

HOSA’s 2020-2021 Executive Board is Pliopa as President, senior Gabreilla Echarri as Vice President, junior Sophia Hidalgo as Secretart, senior Ana Ulivi as Treasurer, junior Sam Getchell as Editor, sophomore Sofia Placensia as Representative and junior Isabel Trespalacios as Competition Coordinator. The HOSA moderators are Mr. James Rydborn and Mr. Jose Companioni.

“I am most excited about competitions this year even though they will run a bit different due to coronavirus concerns,” said Pliopa. “I am also excited to partner with different organizations to raise awareness on certain issues in regards to diseases and medical issues.”

HOSA is an international student organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Health Science Education (HSE) Division of ACTE. HOSA’s two-fold mission is to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people. HOSA’s goal is to encourage all health science instructors and students to join and be actively involved in the HSE-HOSA Partnership.

If students are interested in joining HOSA or have any questions email Camyle Pliopa at 1009891@ilsstudent.com.