TEMPLE, Texas — The Temple High School chapter of HOSA – Future Health Professionals will be sending four representatives to the HOSA State Competition after the health science students posted top three finishes in contests leading up to the HOSA State Conference. Three of the students qualified at the organization’s Area 5 Spring Leadership Conference in Killeen last weekend, and the fourth earned a spot through online testing.
Myrapaz San Juan won the regional competition in Clinical Specialty to clinch her spot in the state contest. She was responsible for submitting a portfolio on a specific clinical job and then making a speech to judges about that job. San Juan followed a microbiologist for her project and analyzed immunofluorescence patterns to help diagnose autoimmune disorders. San Juan says the experience will help her as she advances toward her goal of going to medical school and she is very proud to be the regional champion after she was an alternate for the state competition in the same event last year.
“This is an amazing opportunity, and I am really excited to see what other opportunities it will open up for me, so I am really excited,” San Juan said of winning regionals and qualifying for state. “I am really passionate about microbiology because I am inspired by my mom. My plan is to go to college and study pre-med and biology and then maybe specialize in microbiology afterwards. The competitions we are able to do is an amazing opportunity to really put yourself in those positions.”
San Juan is a junior and also serves as President for Temple High School’s HOSA Chapter. She will be joined at the state competition by Temple High School classmates Shamyia Miller, Juliana Barrientoz, and Kgosigadi Motswenyane. Miller, a senior, qualified by taking second place at the regional competition in personal care. She has now qualified for state in back-to-back years in a competition that requires her to simulate admitting a patient in a hands-on environment. Barrientoz, a freshman, took third place in regionals in health career photography, a category that required her to interview and photograph subjects and then present to judges. Motswenyane is a senior and advanced after finishing in third place in medical reading, an online contest. She was required to read five non-fiction medical books and answer questions on them during that competition.
HOSA is a program designed to develop future leaders for the health care system by providing opportunities for students to develop leadership qualities and skills, develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, develop character and responsible citizenship traits, set goals and make realistic career choices, and network with health care professionals and peers who have similar goals. Participating in the competitive events portion of the leadership conference will also give those students a chance to prepare for opportunities that will come after they graduate from high school.
“All of these kids have put in a LOT of time on their own to prepare for the competition,” said Elizabeth Maybin, CTE teacher and HOSA advisor at Temple High School. “It is all about them having the want to. They want to go learn this stuff so they can go and do well. The benefits are different for each of the students because some of them will focus on skills that directly impact their potential careers. Some of the skills are more beneficial in other, less direct ways. It is very cool that these kids can pick competitions that can really focus them on their careers and futures if they want to. I am very, very proud of all of them and I am looking forward to taking them to Corpus Christi and seeing how we do at the state competition.”
The HOSA State Conference will be March 24-26th in Corpus Christi. HOSA offers competition in 56 different events to help prepare students for future careers in the medical field.