The Kingwood High School HOSA Future Health Professionals chapters have been busy at work this year. 

Students have participated in events from service projects to competitions. In the fall semester, the group met for socials, leadership seminars, and more. In February, HOSA hosted their annual on-campus blood drive through the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center.

For Kingwood and former Texas Area 6 HOSA president Jane Moore, the year has posed a challenge to come up with new ways to connect as a club. Her favorite part of this year has been, “working with [her] fellow officer team in order to adapt and create fun ways to improve [the] organization” while still adhering to safety restrictions. The students have taken it, “step-by-step,” working to do what they can for HOSA members and finding new ways to engage the group in varying circumstances. 

Kingwood HOSA annually competes at area, state, and international HOSA conferences. Events range from leadership-focused to medically-based, and the theme for 2021 is “unlock your potential.”

Though the area and state competitions were unable to be held in-person this year, the club came together for socially-distance viewing parties of the awards ceremonies. Moore says that through these events, they were able to still, “celebrate [HOSA] members and their competitive event accomplishments” in the absence of an in-person conference. 

Sophomore Isabella Espinosa advanced to the state competition in the Nutrition Knowledge Exam. She loves the atmosphere of typical HOSA conferences, as they provide students with the opportunity to interact with a, “new and diverse group of students who share the same passion of medical sciences.” Though she was not able to experience that this year, Espinosa made the most of the virtual events. She says that the virtual setting has, “created a stronger sense of cooperation and HOSA strength amongst members far and wide.” A highlight for Espinosa was getting on the auditorium stage at Kingwood’s local viewing ceremony with fellow sophomore Shivali Chava after the two advanced to the state competition. 

Now, Kingwood HOSA  looks forward to the international conference, taking place June 23-26. Twelve Kingwood competitors earned spots at the international competition. The HOSA International Leadership Conference will be held at the end of June, and is set to be a virtually-conducted event.