Austin Hurt
Staff Writer
This past school year HOSA competed at a number of competitions including one at the
international level. They had a member get first at regionals and first at state as well as a number of
students competing internationally. HOSA has a number of competitions on a number of health related
topics, the organization is one which focuses on the medical field. Senior Ana Aviles Vargas is one of
multiple officers within HOSA who has benefited from the experience. She has been in HOSA for all four
years of her high school career.
“The mission of HOSA, the medical field is what it mainly focuses on, is to educate the people
that are in high school, also on the collegiate level, before kids get to medical school. So kids get an idea
of what the medical field will look like to see where they may be interested in going in to. We have a lot
of competitions, like veterinary science, medical terminology, as well as forensic ones. So it’s good for
science and medical fields in general,” Vargas said. HOSA has a mission to prepare high school age
students for a future in medicine.
While every competitions is a new learning experience, competing on an international level is
very different. It is a stage for new learning environments which you can’t get anywhere else.
“For me at least now I can tell our members, look I went and I did this and I had a lot of fun. It’s a
great way to network. Within the international level they always have exhibits, and they have different
doctors, highly recognized doctors, and you can talk to them and get advice, get their numbers. It is a
great way to network for high school students, and college students, who are trying to go to the medical
field. It opens opportunities for a lot people, so I’m able to tell our members from personal experience,
look this is what it did for me, I’ve been able to communicate with theses doctors, and these people, ”
Aviles Vargas said.
international level. They had a member get first at regionals and first at state as well as a number of
students competing internationally. HOSA has a number of competitions on a number of health related
topics, the organization is one which focuses on the medical field. Senior Ana Aviles Vargas is one of
multiple officers within HOSA who has benefited from the experience. She has been in HOSA for all four
years of her high school career.
“The mission of HOSA, the medical field is what it mainly focuses on, is to educate the people
that are in high school, also on the collegiate level, before kids get to medical school. So kids get an idea
of what the medical field will look like to see where they may be interested in going in to. We have a lot
of competitions, like veterinary science, medical terminology, as well as forensic ones. So it’s good for
science and medical fields in general,” Vargas said. HOSA has a mission to prepare high school age
students for a future in medicine.
While every competitions is a new learning experience, competing on an international level is
very different. It is a stage for new learning environments which you can’t get anywhere else.
“For me at least now I can tell our members, look I went and I did this and I had a lot of fun. It’s a
great way to network. Within the international level they always have exhibits, and they have different
doctors, highly recognized doctors, and you can talk to them and get advice, get their numbers. It is a
great way to network for high school students, and college students, who are trying to go to the medical
field. It opens opportunities for a lot people, so I’m able to tell our members from personal experience,
look this is what it did for me, I’ve been able to communicate with theses doctors, and these people, ”
Aviles Vargas said.
Beyond the competitions there are many ways you can improve things within yourself. Like
getting out of your comfort zone and doing things you normally wouldn’t do.
“HOSA definitely taught me a lot. I know our sponsor Ms. A has a lot to do with it. It pushed me
to do things I’m normally not used to. Before I was never able to publicly speak in front of people. In
fall we spoke in front of six hundred people, so definitely moving from zero to six hundred is a huge
jump. It has guided me to where I want to go specifically, so after college what I want to study, also
things that interest me, what I want to do in the medical field. It also helps with people who think the
medical field is not for them, showing that you do need to study. Such events at competitions like medical
terminology, if you don’t study, you don’t move to the next round. So it just teaches you those really good
study habits as well, so it helped kinda guide me along the way through high school to kinda know what I
actually wanted to do,” Aviles Vargas said.
Joining HOSA isn’t a difficult task by any means. It is a simple process and if it is not for you
then there are no downsides to joining.
“HOSA is our extra curricular activity so it’s just for anybody who is interested in the medical
field. We always say come anyways if you don’t even know just so you can get to know, you can always
ask any one of the officers and they can tell you about their experience and more about HOSA. It’s just a
twenty-five dollar membership fee, you give it to our sponsors. Then we register you and then you are
officially a member. You can become a member without registering the only thing we say is if you don’t
want to compete you don’t have to register,” Aviles Vargas said.
Whether you are planning, interested, or don’t know if you want to be going into the medical field
going to a HOSA meeting can never hurt. Maybe you have no interest in the field, you can still gain so
much from joining. Anyone can join it with absolutely no cost and if you want to be a part of these
competitions it is only twenty-five dollars to register. All you need to do is bring the money to one of the
sponsors for HOSA, just head to J109 to learn more details. As do many organizations, you can get many
getting out of your comfort zone and doing things you normally wouldn’t do.
“HOSA definitely taught me a lot. I know our sponsor Ms. A has a lot to do with it. It pushed me
to do things I’m normally not used to. Before I was never able to publicly speak in front of people. In
fall we spoke in front of six hundred people, so definitely moving from zero to six hundred is a huge
jump. It has guided me to where I want to go specifically, so after college what I want to study, also
things that interest me, what I want to do in the medical field. It also helps with people who think the
medical field is not for them, showing that you do need to study. Such events at competitions like medical
terminology, if you don’t study, you don’t move to the next round. So it just teaches you those really good
study habits as well, so it helped kinda guide me along the way through high school to kinda know what I
actually wanted to do,” Aviles Vargas said.
Joining HOSA isn’t a difficult task by any means. It is a simple process and if it is not for you
then there are no downsides to joining.
“HOSA is our extra curricular activity so it’s just for anybody who is interested in the medical
field. We always say come anyways if you don’t even know just so you can get to know, you can always
ask any one of the officers and they can tell you about their experience and more about HOSA. It’s just a
twenty-five dollar membership fee, you give it to our sponsors. Then we register you and then you are
officially a member. You can become a member without registering the only thing we say is if you don’t
want to compete you don’t have to register,” Aviles Vargas said.
Whether you are planning, interested, or don’t know if you want to be going into the medical field
going to a HOSA meeting can never hurt. Maybe you have no interest in the field, you can still gain so
much from joining. Anyone can join it with absolutely no cost and if you want to be a part of these
competitions it is only twenty-five dollars to register. All you need to do is bring the money to one of the
sponsors for HOSA, just head to J109 to learn more details. As do many organizations, you can get many
things from joining which can help you in high school and beyond especially for juniors and seniors who
may not exactly know what they want to do in college.
may not exactly know what they want to do in college.