President: Sunya Ajani

Coppell High School junior Sunya Ajani has been elected as Healthcare Occupations Students of America president for the 2023-24 school year. This is Ajani’s fourth position, and in her time as a member she has also been the secretary in her freshman and sophomore years and is the current reporter for the 2022-23 school year.

What made you want to run for president?

I’ve been an officer since my freshman year, it felt like a no-brainer to try my senior year. I didn’t know if I wanted to try for vice president or president. I have a lot of ideas and while all the officers have an equal say, I couldn’t do everything I wanted if I wasn’t in a high position.

What does it mean to you to have been voted on by your peers?

I was super excited to be voted for, and it shows that people have a lot of faith in me to be able to lead because it’s a big club. This year we have over 200 people. Being voted as president just shows that everyone has faith in me, and people will have big expectations of me.

What is something you admire about the current leadership?

My favorite thing about this year’s leadership team is that everyone wants to see others compete and do it well. Last year, competition was not the main focus, but the thing I like about this year is that all the officers competed in area, and everyone was genuinely excited to compete. When the officers are excited to compete, then the members want to compete and do just as well.

What do you want to build on in the next year?

I want to add in more committees just to give everyone more of an opportunity to be part of groups and to have more leadership positions other than the standard ones. With committees, you can have committee chairs, and that’s more of the building on leadership aspect, and we can also hit different targets like the food pantry at our school, that’s a big thing we can hit. We can get more guest speakers and do all these things that are hard for only seven high schoolers to do. Committees not only give us the chance to do everything we want to do but will also help the members get more involved and take on leadership roles.

What about healthcare interests you?

I love the people aspect of healthcare. I’m a big people person which is also another reason I ran for president because in order to be president you have to want to talk to people. I love the people person aspect, getting to help people and meet different types of people is so fun to me. You have a job but your job can be so adaptable to the type of people you’re working with, there’s so much adaptability in medicine which is why it’s so interesting to learn about.

What does it mean to you to be president in your final year?

It means that I have the responsibility to leave a legacy for future officers. I’ve been an officer for all four years, so I know more about HOSA than the average member would just because I’ve been exposed to everything HOSA has to offer which also means that I have the responsibility to leave a legacy and set a standard for how everything should be handled in HOSA. Being a senior and having this position on top of others just gives me more responsibility to show people that anyone could be a good leader and you just have to put yourself out there.

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