Jamesville-DeWitt High School’s Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Club recently attended HOSA’s 47th annual International Leadership Conference. The international career and technical student organization is endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education.
Aarohi Rastogi, Flora Mei, Riley Tuite, and Sinead McDevitt were among 12,600 members, advisors, judges, and guests at the June conference in Houston, Texas.
“It’s always inspiring to see how passionate everyone is about helping others and advancing in their journeys through the medical field. Being able to support my classmates and work together towards our goals was truly rewarding,” said HOSA Club co-president Flora Mei.
The conference featured more than 150 information booths, educational activities, and workshops. HOSA Club co-president Aarohi Rastogi and Riley Tuite were able to earn a 2-year CPR certification at one workshop.
“It was so cool to learn a skill that could save someone’s life,” shared Aarohi who also earned a “YouScience Certification.” The certification might help her standout and could potentially save her from having to take a few basic medical school class credits.
Students were also able to network and build new relationships through HOSA pin trading.
“Since almost every state was at the conference as well as international countries, pin trading was a way to connect with people and talk to people from all over the world. Each person in a state receives a certain amount of their state pins and they must trade it with other states for their pins,” shared Aarohi. “That opportunity really had us opening up and talking to people that we never expected to talk to.”
While networking, J-D students noticed a lack of students representing New York state. They hope to get the word out about HOSA, see more students get involved, and inspire sponsors to help fund trips like the conference.
“We are looking for future sponsors that are willing to help children reach their goals. We stayed there for 5 days and it was one of the most rewarding and engaging conferences I have ever seen,” shared Aarohi.
The club is a great example of the district’s 2020-25 Strategic Plan in action. Not only does it provide students with robust opportunities and experiences in and out of the classroom like the conference, it also gets them involved in the community. The club gives back through blood drives and other health charity fundraisers.
“I hope that through our activities and outreach, we can motivate more students to consider careers in healthcare. It’s very fulfilling to know that our efforts can contribute to addressing real-world issues and help shape the future of the medical field,” said Flora Mei.
The club plans to have an informational table at J-D High School’s Activity Fair which is held at the beginning of the school year.