The HOSA Leadership team stands side by side in their club attire. Photo taken by Nidhi Nagaraj
As summer fades into the start of the academic year, school-sanctioned clubs come back to life as well. South Salem High School is home to a chapter of the Health Occupations Students of America club. The club, known as HOSA, can provide students who wish to pursue a career in the medical field a place to learn about health occupations.
“HOSA is all about students who would like to go into the healthcare field, medical professions, or any type of leadership role,” Advisor Megan Holman said.
Club meetings happen every Thursday from 3:30-4 p.m. in room 107. During HOSA meetings, students will receive information about the state conference and similar opportunities to partake in. The club is run and managed by its co-presidents Nidhi Nagaraj ‘24 and Avani Mohindra ‘24. The bulk of what happens during these meetings is preparation for the end all, the state conference.
“We usually get into a fun activity to help us prepare for the state conference! To prepare our club members for the competition, we do kahoots, quizlets and hands-on activities to get the exact feel of the event,” Nagaraj said.
One of the most important topics covered in meetings is the categories of events that students may contest. These categories include health science, health professions and teamwork events. Within these main categories, there are multitudes of different events that students can choose to contest at the state conference.
“During club meetings, we focus on being able to help each member with the event/events that they chose,” Mohindra said.
Along with students taking on individual events and tests, there is another event for select HOSA students to compete. This event is the HOSA Bowl. The HOSA Bowl is for the leadership team of HOSA, these students being the ones that hold the highest knowledge and power within the club.
“I also participate in the HOSA bowl which is a fun trivial group event similar to Jeopardy where we each have a buzzer and compete with another school to see who can answer the most questions. Usually, we would be in a large room, an audience in front of us and our team with another team opposite to each other intensely trying to answer the questions as fast as we can,” Nagaraj said.
While success and knowledge can impose a sizable amount of influence on a group, a sense of support and community can as well.
“After the state conference on the way back home, our chapter stopped at Bridgeport Mall and had lunch together. It was a super fun time and being around everyone felt like we really had a community,” Nagaraj said.
While the state conference might seem like the end of the season, there are more HOSA events for students to compete in. One of these is the International Leadership Conference, which is in Dallas, Texas. Students can earn a spot at this venue by achieving a first-place victory in an event at the state conference.
“This past year, I competed in two events at the state level: the Medical Reading and the HOSA Bowl events. I achieved first place in the Medical Reading event, qualifying for the International Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas. As the first person from the Salem-Keizer School District to compete at ILC, I enjoyed the challenge of learning firsthand how ILC works the most,” Mohindra said.
