Brownwood High School Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) students competed in the district round of online testing during the first week in December. With two students placing first in their events and five qualifying for state, BHS HOSA sponsors are looking forward to another great season.
With the recent district change from Area 4 to Area 5, BHS HOSA sponsors were eager to see how the students would compete. “We were very hopeful that our students would do well in the new district,” said BHS teacher and HOSA Advisor, Annalyn Deen, adding that the students have been studying since the first week of school. “The students exceeded our expectations. We had two first place finishers and 25 students made it into the top 10 of their events.”Shelby McKillip placed first in the Home Health Aide category and Ariel Todd finished first in the Nursing Assistant category. In addition, five students qualified for state: Steven Arceneaux, Garret Barnum, Abigail Benson (Health Care Issues & Top 10% of testers), Brady Taylor (2nd – Medical Math), and Amelia Collins (2nd – Medical Reading). Collins was the state winner for Medical Reading in 2013.
“Brady Taylor placed second in Medical Math and qualified for his second trip to state,” said Deen. “He also passed the officer exam and is going to credentialing to possibly become an area officer.”
In addition to Taylor, Journey Buitron also passed the officer test. “If these two boys make it they will be Brownwood’s first area officers in HOSA ever,” noted Deen.
“HOSA is a great place for young students to get involved in health care from the very beginning,” stated Deen. “Many of these students discover their future career thanks to this great student organization.”
The HOSA Area competition will be held in Abilene, Texas, and according to Deen, several additional BHS HOSA students will be returning to the competition or competing there for the first time. “We will be making the trip to Area [competition] January 17th and 18th,” said Deen. “We will be taking around 56 students who are hopeful of securing a state bound trip.”
Above: (L to R) Timothy Sheehan, Amelia Collins, Ariel Todd, Shelby McKillip, and Dylan Person.
