HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) is a national student-led organization for those planning to enter a career in the health professions.  HOSA is endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education and the Health Science Education Division of Association for Career and Technical Education.

What is HOSA’s Mission? It’s two-fold mission is to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people.  HOSA’s goal is to encourage all health occupations instructors and students to join and be actively involved in the HSE-HOSA Partnership.

This year, at the State Competition on March 30th, two outstanding leaders from Stratford high schools were elected to State Office:

Ryne Pataki, Bunnell High, was elected State Secretary after an inspiring speech dedicated to state-wide fundraising and partnerships for community service events.  Ryne is the President of Bunnell’s HOSA Club, as well as a true leader of the school’s Youth Health Service Corps  (YHSC) chapter.

Jessica Barragan, Stratford High, was re-elected as State Historian after an amazing junior year in the position.  Jessica’s goal is to have complete and accurate documentation of all state-wide activities and make a name for CT HOSA on the National level.   She is the President of Bunnell’s HOSA Club and Volunteer Club, as well as the state’s leading YHSC Volunteer, logging almost 450 hours of service in 2008-2009.

On March 30th, Youth Health Service Corps students from Central, Harding, Bunnell and Stratford High Schools’ Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) Clubs came together to dominate the competitive events at the State HOSA Competition.   The Clubs had sixteen, six, twelve and eight students, respectively, competing against HOSA members state-wide in a variety of written exams, hands-on demonstrations, public speaking sessions and display pieces focused on Health Sciences, Health Professions, Emergency Preparedness, Leadership and Teamwork.  The State Competition consisted of HOSA approximately 150 students from 9 high schools in the state, who are all preparing for a future career in the health and medical field.

Central students competed in Medical Terminology, Nutrition, Human Growth and Development, Medical Spelling, Medical Math and the HOSA Bowl (a Jeopardy-style game of HOSA knowledge, played in teams of two).  Sergena Laine placed first in Medical Terminology, Terrence Robinson placed second in Nutrition, Andy Lopez placed second in Human Growth and Development, Paul Robinson placed first in Medical Spelling, and Jen Le and Sergio Munoz took first in the HOSA Bowl!

Harding students competed in a variety of events, with Jeremiah Owodele placing fourth of fourteen in Medical Math – by far, the most difficult of all the written examinations.

Bunnell students participated in many of the demonstration events; Rob Reilly and his partner took first place in CPR/First Aid, while Ryne Pataki and Mary Mohyde took third in Creative Problem Solving.  Alvaro Garcia and Matt Bizak placed first and second, respectively, in Concepts of Health Care, and Alex Lenches placed first in Human Growth and Development.  Bunnell’s Alyssa Kassimis took the award for Outstanding Officer and received the credit for the club’s first place finish in the Chapter Scrapbook competition.

Stratford High had an exceptional individual performance from Janile Murray, who took first place in the Nursing Assisting event, won the Outstanding Officer Award and received the State HOSA Scholarship Award.  Also placing in events, was Carina Ortiz – third in Nursing Assisting -, Pratibha Dhakshinamurphy  – first in Job Seeking Skills -, and Colleen Dyer – second in Job Seeking Skills.