Westside High School’s Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) chapter was just recently founded this school year.
HOSA is a national student-led organization that promotes and teaches about the medical field. In HOSA, students learn about different health professions and medical terms.
Like mentioned earlier, HOSA is entirely student-led. Students in HOSA are elected for leadership positions such as president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, parliamentarian, reporter, and historian. These students lead meetings and are essentially in charge of the chapter.
In March, Westside HOSA attended the Nebraska annual State Leadership Conference, where students competed in different categories againsts other HOSA members from the entire state.
Sophomores Nadia Aboeata, Mary Heser, Reese Rhyner, and Chloe Taylor placed first in the ‘Mental Health Promotion’ category.
They created a mental health awareness platform on Instagram named Your Mind, Your Power. The students post almost daily about breaking the stigma surrounding mental health.
Nadia Aboeata actually was the reason HOSA started at Westside and is now the chapter President.
“I wanted to start a HOSA chapter because I heard about it through kids from other schools and it seemed like an amazing opportunity. I know a lot of kids at Westside are interested in the medical field and I am too. It seems like a lot of fun… I’m hoping that the chapter expands,” Aboeata said.
Sophomore Haley Rensch placed third in the ‘Research Poster’ category. Haley’s poster was about technology’s effect on mental health.
Sophomore Kanella Martinez Schultz placed third in the ‘World Health and Disparities in Healthcare’ category. Kanella took an exam on health in different population groups across the world.
In June, HOSA students who placed will be attending the International Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Members will have the opportunity to continue to compete in their categories.
Westside HOSA chapter has shown just how dedicated they are, even in their first year.
