The HOSA Hustle: Navigating the Journey to ILC
The Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) chapter at OSS is one of the most active clubs on campus, with over a 100 members! HOSA serves as an experience, allowing students to explore medical careers, and become interested in new ideas. The journey within HOSA takes dedication and skill. With regionals already being very competitive, internationals require a great deal of preparation and understanding of medical knowledge. Qualifying for ILC means that a student has dedicated their efforts to their event, and is one of the best in their events!
The success of this club pertains to Ms. Monroe’s immense dedication to its efforts. Although the financial costs, particularly for travel and conference fees, are consistently one of the biggest challenges the club faces, Ms. Monroe collaborates with the HOSA executive board to think about effective outreach and fundraising events. Through her HOSA knowledge, Ms. Monroe showcases a preference for the skill events, where practical application is an important factor, alongside textbook knowledge. Events like CPR/First Aid and Phlebotomy allow students to move beyond the textbook and showcase the expertise they’ve learned over the school year. She sees these events as the perfect opportunity for members to collaborate with their group (if they have one), or deal with certain situations under a time limit.
Public Service Announcement (PSA) is a collaborative challenge that requires teams to produce a video to inform the public about a specific health topic. This event perfectly suited the talents of four best friends who have known each other since middle school: Madyson, Ashlin, Hamsika, and Wareesha. With their ability to work together in a creative manner and their unique talents, they formed their PSA group. They assigned each other roles, based on the strengths that they knew each teammate had. This led to maximum efficiency, as Madyson knew how to edit videos really well and Wareesha was great at taking videos! By organising their roles, their time, and their goal as a whole, four best friends were able to make it to HOSA ILC, where they enjoyed pin trading and other tasks!
Qualifying for ILC is already very competitive, but Abdus-Samad was able to balance his rigorous course load and qualify for ILC. Being the only sophomore that qualified for ILC last year, Abdus-Samad had a lot of studying to do, alongside his four AP courses and other extracurriculars he is devoted to. To qualify for his spot at ILC, Abdus-Samad developed a structured schedule, alongside a goal: set aside a few hours for HOSA at least once a week. Over these few hours, he studied from his textbook and other resources, making sure to revise the material. His favorite part of attending ILC was the chance to meet and connect with peers from different countries!
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