On Jan. 27, the Steinbrenner HOSA club participated in the HOSA regional competition. HOSA members worked together to win numerous sports medicine related competitions, ranging from reading comprehension tests to creating public service announcement videos.
“There’s about 50 different competitions to choose from, but the most popular competitions include the HOSA bowl, health career display, sports medicine, public service announcement, healthy lifestyle, and the veterinary competition. There’s also knowledge-based tests to compete in, such as the terminology test, spelling test, health career test, and also essay competitions,” said senior Natale Hall.
Out of these events, HOSA members are able to choose which event best suits their interests. HOSA club historian Katie Diskin decided to partake in the medical reading test.
“The event I competed in was the knowledge test, which I took in class the week before the convention. It was a medical reading comprehension test based off a provided list of five books. I do the knowledge test every year because it’s pretty fun and it’s the event I feel the most comfortable in,” said junior Katie Diskin.
Other Steinbrenner HOSA members chose to take part in the Public Service Announcement competition. This competition required participants to make a 30 second informational video on a health issue of their choice.
“I competed in the Public Service Announcement competition in a group of four. We made an informational video on pre-diabetes and then gave a speech on what our creative process for the video was and what the public needs to do to help the issue. To prepare, we had to meet up a couple times over break to film our PSA and also to write and practice our speech. We put in a lot of effort, so I was really glad to hear our names called announcing that we got first place,” said Hall.
An additional event that the Steinbrenner HOSA competed in was the healthy lifestyle competition. The basis of this competition was for the participant to change something in their life to make their lifestyle better. The contestant is required to log their daily progress in living a healthier lifestyle.
“The change I made to my lifestyle was to cut out processed foods and fats. I started my competition way back on Sep. 1, 2016. Since then, I’ve logged everything I’ve done to improve my lifestyle and be healthier leading up to the competition. I cataloged all my nutritional data in tons of binders and spreadsheets, which I then compiled into a portfolio for the judges. Then, I gave a four minute speech to the judges on how this change impacted me. It was challenging, but at the same time it was really beneficial to eat healthier and it was super fun to interact with the judges,” said senior Ashlyn Ludovici.
Overall, the Steinbrenner HOSA has given the contending schools a fierce competition. They have gone to the regional competition three years in a row and the state competition for the last two years. Last year, the Steinbrenner HOSA made it all the way to the national HOSA competition.
“We’ve placed in various events for the third year in a row now, but this year I feel we came a lot more prepared and that we all worked together as a group really well. I think this year our performance at the regional competition was different and more exciting than previous years because we were all challenged to do our absolute best and were required to think on our feet,” said Hall.
The Steinbrenner HOSA has been working hard to maintain their winning streak, and will continue to put forth their best work. This year, they will be competing in the HOSA state competition on Apr. 5. HOSA members are looking forward to representing Steinbrenner and being surrounded by other students who share their same interest for health occupations.
“The HOSA competitions are super fun to go to because even though you’re competing against a ton of other schools, it’s interesting and fun to be surrounded by people who share the same passion for sports medicine and are following the same career path as you,” said Hall.
Gretchen Strunk // Staff Writer
