Health Occupation Students of America, or HOSA for short, is a nationally recognized club for students who hope to go into the medical industry after high school. HOSA is led by teachers Tara Kishpaugh and Nick Brunker. The club usually meets up once a month and each meeting focuses on upcoming events.
On March 7, six club members are traveling to Pocatello for a state conference where they will be competing in multiple events. The six members going this year are sophomore Ari Thompson, sophomore Bailey Roberts, sophomore Amanda Carpenter, sophomore Grace Merrill and senior Nicole Welch.
Many medical events include medical math, pharmaceutics, phlebotomy, clinical nursing and respiratory therapy, among many others. Small groups or individuals compete against other clubs from schools all over Idaho. They compete to win in their respective category.
This year, Merrill, Carpenter and Welch are presenting a public service announcement on the dangers of fentanyl. The three girls have put together a thirty second video that sums up the risks in doing drugs and the large threat that fentanyl proposes in today’s society. This video will not only be presented at the state conference but will be played over the Eagle High morning announcements to spread the word.
“We are trying to spread awareness about fentanyl and how dangerous it is,” Welch said.
Many other students in this year’s HOSA club are competing in other categories. Roberts and Thompson are competing in the health career event, where they will be presenting on phlebotomy.
All the members are competing on different online events as well as their in-person events. If they score high enough in the online events, they can move onto state for those events, as well.
Thompson, who is the club president, shared some information about the general layout of the conference.
“There are a lot of seminars on the first day and then generally on the second day we compete in our events and go to awards,” Thompson said.
Overall, the upcoming HOSA conference is a big deal for these six girls. They will have a chance to compete and win awards, as well as spread awareness about important issues, like fentanyl overdoses.
