Niles West’s Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) attended their state conference in Springfield, Illinois from March 20th to March 22nd. Students won first place in two categories: Family Medicine and Health Education. The Physical Therapy category won second place.
When preparing for state conferences, HOSA members were required to submit their preliminary tests or projects by January. Their qualification for the competition entirely depends on whether they successfully made it through the preliminary round. If students place top three at the state conference, then they are qualified for nationals.
HOSA’s newest and current advisor, Ali Sayed, expresses his passion for his students as he reflects on their work during the conference and the year overall.
“It was very exciting to see my students so motivated and working so hard on their projects, it made me feel really proud of them. I just saw all the effort they put into their projects and I was there to support them along the way. But really, it’s the students who put in a lot of time and effort to make their projects good,” Sayed said.
Upon the many hardworking members of HOSA, Nabiah Sheikh, junior, won first place in the event Health Education with the topic of generalized anxiety disorder. The Health Education team prepared lesson plans that included slides, interactive activities and a care gift. The team reached out to various middle schools to present their work, and ended up speaking to over 400 students publicly. After collecting data, members made a speech to showcase and educate the youth on their topic.
“Our speech was only five minutes, so it had to be good. Nonetheless, we were extremely relieved when it was over and then the next day we found out we were qualifying for nationals,” Sheikh said.
Another dedicated member of HOSA, senior Lorena Saba, shared her own experience with the judges while competing in the HOSA bowl. Upon entering the room, members were each assigned to a buzzer. While asking the questions, the judges assigned a number to each participant to answer the questions accordingly.
“I completed solo exams about the material. Upon arrival, we were randomly assigned another school in which we competed against. The event consisted of judges asking two groups a series of questions based on various medical topics and parliamentary procedures,” Saba said.
HOSA members continue to showcase their efforts that they’ve given throughout the year, and there is still more to come. The Future Health Professionals will proceed to nationals with even more preparation and dedication.
