Anticipation rises as the guest speakers, advisors, and thousands of students assemble in the ocean themed conference room. HOSA members are filled with pride as only a small percentage of competitors are placed in the state competition.
From April 2-4, 82 Coppell High School students competed at the Texas HOSA State Leadership Conference in Galveston. Nine of the 82 students placed in the top three for their competition, advancing them to the HOSA International Leadership Conference (ILC) from June 26-29 at Houston.
Nineteen competitors received state recognition for the Health Care Issues Exam (HCIE) with Coppell senior Anusha Narway receiving $5,000 through the Johnson and Wales Scholarship.
Qualifiers note the intense yet thrilling feeling of getting recognized during the closing ceremony.
“It was phenomenal,” said Coppell junior qualifier Ashia Agarwal, who placed first in the Research Poster event. “We were waiting outside the room and I was talking to other people. I realized there were at least five other people who had psychology. I was like ‘I’m not going to make it’ and ‘there’s so many people who have psychology experiments.’ Hearing first place was like ‘Oh my god, I actually made it.’ They announced first place last so it was just building up anxiety. I was not expecting it. It was exhilarating.”
Not only the atmosphere was exhilarating, as the competitors themselves exuded motivation and eagerness.
“It was really motivating to be around these types of people because they also have such high goals,” junior qualifier Catherine Ma said. “It was very energetic with a positive environment.”
Surpassing previous years, this is the largest number of HOSA members from Coppell to qualify to the international competition.
“For us to get the money to go to state and getting nine of them out of state is a really big accomplishment,” CHS health science teacher Bill Borowski said. “We’re really proud of the students because they’ve been in jobs for so long. You get to know them really well so you want them to succeed. You’re excited when they do, it’s good to see.”
Borowski thinks that the opening of opportunities at Coppell High School Ninth Grade Campus is also the reason why students were successful in advancing in HOSA.
“When I was at CHS9, [freshmen] could only do Health Career Display and Parliamentary Procedures,” Borowski said. “This year, we had a freshman finish in the top three in the area to go to state. If we let them do what they’re interested in or what their passions are, then they’re going to do really well. That change of philosophy has helped a lot.’
The qualifiers look forward to the HOSA International Leadership Conference.
“When you go to events like this, you bond a lot with people,” Agarwal said. “I’m pretty good friends with the other [qualifiers]. I’m excited for internationals.”
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