Three Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) members — sophomore Sofia Rodriguez and seniors Grace Severson and Aubrey Fessler — became the first ever BOHS students to place in the top three of their respective categories at the HOSA State Leadership Conference (SLC).
At SLC, eligible members competed against over 200 Cal-HOSA chapters in 92 different events from April 4 to 6 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
To qualify for the state-level competition, members had to pass the first round of their event, which was held in January. Students competed in categories such as creating a poster board and presentation of a chosen career field; submitting an argumentative paper about an assigned medical topic; or taking a written test on designated books.
In Round 2 of the Researched Persuasive Writing and Speaking competition, Rodriguez received second place out of 28 speakers for her argument about the negative impacts of sports specialization on youth athletes.
“It was so nerve-wracking. I was essentially staring at two judges for four minutes, reciting my speech while my heart pounded, and I tried not to stutter,” Rodriguez said. “My voice came out really clear, thankfully, and my muscle memory carried me through the gestures and inflections I meant to hit.”
This was Severson’s and Fessler’s second year attending SLC.
Last year, Fessler earned fourth place for Health Career Display and fifth place in Medical Reading. This year, “vow[ing] to do better,” she won third place in the Medical Reading. Thinking that she “completely failed the second round of testing,” which consisted of a 50-question multiple choice test and essay prompt based on five medical books, she “was in disbelief” when her name was called as the third place winner.
Winning second place in the Academic Testing Center (ATC) Career Development category, “was overall pretty shocking because HOSA has so many qualified people,” Severson said. The test consisted of a 50-question multiple choice test about job seeking tips, interview skills, and communication and psychology concepts in addition to an essay prompt.
Those who placed in the top three of their division qualified for the International Leadership Conference, held from June 26 to 29 in Houston, Tex.
While some HOSA members, like Eugenie Kim, sophomore, didn’t place in their division, “it was overall just a really good experience, and we learned so much from doing our project,” she said. Kim created a trifold poster about the career of neonatologists with her partner, Christine Kim, sophomore, and together, they presented it to a panel of judges.
Additional HOSA members who did not compete had the opportunity to network with middle and high school HOSA chapters across California, participate in career fairs and workshops, and listen to keynote speakers during the three-day event. 26 students attended SLC from the BOHS chapter.
Ken McCall, advisor and patient care pathway teacher, was elated with the results and proud of his team’s performance. “Witnessing students getting recognized on stage is always a highlight of my role as an adviser,” he said.
