Hazen HOSA

Good morning everyone,

I just wanted to share our positive experiences at the WAHOSA State Leadership Conference In Spokane. The conference wrapped up Saturday morning with the Closing Ceremonies and our students are bringing home some accolades!

This year’s Competition had over 2,000 registrants with estimates of over 1500 on-site participants making this 10-year anniversary event the largest in Washington. The Hazen contingent had 18 students present, 3 of whom came over Friday morning after the Band Concert, with an additional 6 Hazen students unable to travel and limiting themselves to events that only required Round 1 testing here at Hazen, which was completed back in February.

WA HOSA has 3 competitive levels: Middle School, Secondary, and Postsecondary. There are no competitions between these levels, but there is no differentiation between different size schools so our students compete against 4A schools like Skyline and Newport and magnet schools like Tesla Stem in Redmond or Henrietta Lacks in Vancouver. WAHOSA has 54 competitive events and an additional 7 Recognition events for Secondary students. Performance in the Competitive Events is a challenge for students in that most are used to performing against finite standards, but performing against the performance of other competitors giving them a glimpse of qualifying for more competitive post-secondary schools or programs.

The Advisors are proud of all of the students’ efforts, even if they were not identified as finalists but the following students should be especially proud:

• Allison Fung earned 4th place medal in the Health Science competitive event Medical Law & Ethics
• Han Nguyen earned the 3rd place medal in the Health Professions event Medical Law & Ethics Medical Assisting
• Christina Truong earned the 2nd place medal in the Health Professions event Veterinary Science
• Michelle Truong earned the 2nd place medal in the Health Professions event Home Care Aide
• This will be Michelle’s second 2nd year to qualify to ILC in this event and she hopes to improve upon her Round 2 qualifying finish from last year

Only the Top 5 finalists are recognized at Closing Ceremonies, so we may have additional performances to recognize in the next few weeks. The 3 medalists automatically qualify to the HOSA International Leadership Conference, this year to be held in Dallas, TX. The other finalists may also have an opportunity to go as alternates as students can compete in 3 events at SLC, but only 1 at ILC. Those qualifiers & alternates choosing to participate in ILC will be leaving June 20th and will miss the last few days of school, including finals.

Even those who were not qualifiers had the opportunity to engage in a variety of educational sessions and network with other career-minded peers and healthcare professionals and our students looked and acted the part of future health professionals as well.

Thank you for supporting their opportunity to participate in this trip!
HOSA Advisors & SLC Chaperones: Tom, Jana, Blaine, & Quan