On Saturday, March 31st youth from the Recruitment and Educational Assistance for Careers in Health (REACH) Program attended the MassAHEC HOSA Statewide Leadership Conference (SLC) at The University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA. There they competed in healthcare related competitive events with other high school students from 15 other HOSA chapters across the state of Massachusetts.
Four Springfield public high schools students in the after school program HOSA chapter received State Champion medals in their chosen competitive events.
Two years ago the program became one of the first chapters in the inaugural year of affiliation in the state of Massachusetts in Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA). It joined 3,300 other chapters that span 48 state associations. HOSA is a national student organization endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education, which operates in secondary, postsecondary and collegiate institutions as an integral part of the Health Science Education Curriculum.
The HOSA model fit perfectly into the program mission and allows the program to use HOSA resources to provide better programming content for our students while also increasing the profile of the students in our program on the national scale. Every year HOSA state organizations hold a Statewide Leadership Conference (SLC) where all the chapters around the state meet together and compete in healthcare related competitive events that focus on leadership, teamwork and creativity while testing their knowledge on health science and health professions.
Students who place 1st, 2nd or 3rd in any event at their SLC have the opportunity to go on to compete with students in HOSA Chapters from all around the country at The HOSA National Leadership Conference (NLC). This year the conference is being held in Orlando, FL.
In the News
Springfield youth State Champions in HOSA Competitive Events
(left to right) Springfield Central High School junior Duong Huynh, and Springfield Central High School junior Lay'Trice Jewell. Duong and Lay'Trice received Gold State Champion medals for taking 1st place in the Career Health Display Team Event. The health profession they focused on was a Urogynecologist, they received rave reviews from all the judges on their score sheet.
(left to right) Springfield Central High School junior, Tien Hua who received a Bronze State Champion medal for taking 3rd place in the Medical Math Knowledge Test Individual Event, Springfield Central High School junior Duong Huynh, and Springfield Central High School junior Lay'Trice Jewell, Gold State Champion medalists for taking 1st place in the Career Health Display Team Event and Springfield Renaissance School junior, Joshua Diaz who received a Silver State Champion medal for taking 2nd place in the Pharmacology Knowledge Test Individual Event.