HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) Future Health Professionals  is a program that was started during the 60’s and 70’s with the goal of creating an interest in students for various health careers. It’s first official conference took place from July 23-25, 1974. This program has chapters throughout the country and is heavily endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education and reports an approximate 200,000 members throughout the world. 

The purpose of this club at Seminole is to keep students seeking health careers engaged in pursuing those careers. Every Thursday, HOSA meets in the Health Academy teaching theater. During this meeting, each member breaks into the competition group they chose and practice begins. For example, the CPR teams go over scenarios and review first aid techniques.

“I joined HOSA to be able to compete on a national level with like minded people. Since joining, it has furthered my health career exploration,” said junior Jonathan Gray. 

Like many clubs, HOSA has officers and a sponsor. Officer positions include President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Historian. The club’s sponsor is a registered nurse, Mrs. Stump, who teaches junior and senior health students in her Health Science Foundations and Global Health classes. She advises the club and helps arrange competitions.

“I hope you are as proud of your classmates as I am. Their (competitors) hard work and commitment really paid off,” said Seminole’s HOSA Sponsor Mary Stump.

Florida currently has 12 HOSA regions, each competing in a different venue for regional competitions. Seminole belongs in the Region 10 segment, along with a slew of other schools in Orange and Osceola County. This year, all of Region 10 schools who qualified for regional competitions met on January 21 to compete at Keiser University-Orlando Campus. Opening and closing ceremonies were held at the Orlando Baptist Church and consisted of awards, games, and speeches.

One competition that Seminole’s team took first place in was the Public Service Announcement event in the teamwork category. This team put together a short video that showed how to be prepared for a disaster, more specifically, hurricanes. The team was comprised of 6 members: Cameron Celeste, Isabel Adamus, James Nguyen, Justin Tijerino, Katarina Bentley-Krest, and Michael Massiah. 

“The competition was fun because I got to meet new people interested in health and the video was a blast to make,” said senior James Nguyen.

Seminole also had two teams compete in the CPR/First Aid event, a single event that tests both skills. The teams entered a room and were given a scenario that involved one CPR victim and one first aid victim. They then had to carry out the appropriate procedures that would be done in a real life event and were judged on their performance. Both teams placed: one in 5th and the other 2nd. The 2nd place team, Kayla DeLotte and Ghesseh Afshari, will advance to the state conference.

In addition to these competitions, four students competed in medical spelling. Sophomore Dylan Teegarden placed first, while senior Breanna Magiero placed second. This brings the total to ten Seminole students who will be headed to the state competition level. 

Every team that placed in the top three at the regional conference will advance to the State Leadership Conference held at the Marriott Orlando World Center. The conference will begin April 6 and continue to April 9. This conference will be the 40th in Florida’s history and has an estimated 3,200 members attending.