Thomas County Central High School had nine students attain scores in the Georgia HOSA Regional State Qualification Tests to advance to the Georgia HOSA State Leadership Conference (SLC).
Students were registered and then tested in the TCCHS Media Center the week of Jan. 11. Qualifiers were announced Jan. 20.
“The sate qualification tests are knowledge tests,” Cindy Griner, TCCHS HOSA advisor, said. “The top 70 students in each test category qualify to attend the state leadership conference to compete at the state level.”
TCCHS qualifiers include: Mahalia Brown, Medical Spelling; Jordan Bush, Behavioral Health; Angela Cipriani and Brianna Hart, CPR and First Aid; Collin Keigans, Medical Law and Ethics; Guanghui Li, Medical Math; Trinity Phillips and Savannah Watson, Community Emergency Response Team; and, Hannah Dixon, Human Growth and Development.
“We are extremely proud of our students,” Griner said. “This will be our third year competing for SLC. Our numbers continue to grow each year. Mrs. (Wendy) Luke and I are proud of all of our students but are especially pleased with this group that has taken the extra step to grow as future healthcare professionals.”
Sophomore Collin Keigans, 15, competed in the Medical Law and Ethics category. He had to respond on how to handle problems and situations that dealt with patients and their privacy, as well as using ethical guidelines.
To prepare, his teachers got him a bioethics book, 200 plus pages of information to read, and printed out online study materials. Keigans wanted to read the whole book twice before competition so he figured out how many pages he needed to read per night and did it.
“Honestly, at first, I was nervous about the test, but now that I’ve found out I’m going to state competition, I’m pretty excited,” he said. “It’s a privilege not all kids get to have, and I’m thankful that I get to go.”
Keigans said competitions like these “put me out there” and show that he is serious about a healthcare career. He wants to be an anesthesiologist and hopes he can soon begin shadowing and interning.
Sophomore Mahalia Brown, 15, competed in Medical Spelling. She had to take a 50-question written test.
“There was a definition of a word and then different choices on how to spell the word,” Brown said of the test. “You had to choose the correct one.”
She prepared for competition by studying her textbook, breaking down the words to learn them, and watching YouTube videos on medical spelling.
“I’m very good at spelling,” Brown said. “I always knew how to spell words and have been a very good reader ever since I was a little girl.”
Brown is interested in a career in nurse midwifery and said participation in HOSA, as well as competitions like this one, helps her prepare for her chosen career field.
“It helps me speak words more fluently and helps me get a jump start on knowing the words,” she said.
Angela Cipriani and Briana Hart competed in CPR and First Aid.
“We are involved in the CNA program at our school and were working on becoming CPR certified,” Cipriani said. “First Aid is something we will need to know in our future careers.”
The duo studied together and quizzed each other to prepare for competition.
“I was very pleased to hear that we made it to state and our hard work paid off,” Briana Hart said.
Hart said competition helps her prepare for a healthcare career.
“The things we are doing in HOSA are things we will have to do in real life,” she said.
HOSA, or future health professionals, is an important tool for school healthcare programs, Griner said.
“HOSA was created to provide students with experiences to grow as leaders and as employees of the future,” she said. “HOSA provides teacher resources, recognition for students, leadership opportunities for students, scholarships and networking as part of the health science education team. It is about developing smart, dedicated healthcare professionals of the future.”
The Georgia HOSA State Leadership Conference will be held in Atlanta this February.
“I feel great about it,” Brown said of the upcoming competition. “I feel like I have a good chance of making it and I will do very well. My goal is to win, but to also do the best that I can.”
Griner said students will continue to study materials suggested by HOSA, as well as meet after school, to help prepare for state competition.
“In addition to normal classroom activities, we will be meeting after school to hone up on the skills component for the teams testing in categories that require skill testing in addition to knowledge testing,” she said.