Career and Skill Development

Our students are learning the personal, workplace, and technical skills it takes to be successful in the work place. Our program is all encompassing covering things like: integrity, work ethic, professionalism, responsibility, self-motivation, adaptability/flexibility, communication, teamwork, leadership, planning/organization skills, multicultural awareness, decision making, technology, service orientation, and job-specific skills. Below are just a few of the ways our students are learning these skills.

Job Shadowing- Twenty-one of our HOSA members are in the Medical Careers course at the Career Center. In this course, each of them receives over 30 hours of job shadowing in over 13 different health career clusters. This totals over 630 hours where they are gaining industry exposure, learning about professionalism, improving teamwork and communication skills, and more. Each industry partner provides orientation training for our students about work place expectations, dress codes, HIPPA, and safety regulations.

In addition, our HOSA students do extra job shadowing outside of the Medical Careers course. Many of them take the initiative to set these opportunities up themselves to learn more about a career field or prepare for their HOSA competitive events.

Certification Training-

1. Fifteen students are currently enrolled in a dual credit program to receive National EMT certification. Through this course they will have completed approximately 180 hours of training and each will have a 10 hour clinical rotation they must complete.

2. Over three-quarters of our members have been certified in CPR/1st aid in the past year. They continue to hone these skills by working to address access and training to this material in our school and donate their time to programs like CPR Saturday in the community.

3. In the past year, we have also had members seek out training through adult education programs in phlebotomy and CNA and are currently practicing these trades in our community.

4. Seventeen of our members gained certification in Youth Mental Health First Aid, an 8 hour training provided by our local Area Health Education Center (AHEC) to be better informed about mental health in their classmates and future patients.

Competitive Events Training-

To prepare for the State Leadership Conference and enhance their career and technical knowledge, our students are preparing to compete in the following technical skills events:

  • Veterinary Science
  • Sports Medicine
  • CERT Skills
  • EMT
  • CPR/1st Aid
  • Nursing Assisting

They are also preparing other workplace and soft skills by competing in:

  • Forensic Medicine
  • Job Seeking Skills (interviewing and resumes)
  • Researched Persuasive Speaking
  • Medical Innovations
  • Community Awareness
  • Extemporaneous Writing
  • Health Career Photography
  • Extemporaneous Writing
  • Health Career Display
  • Healthy Lifestyle

Lastly, we have students ready to showcase their knowledge before they go by studying and taking exams in:

  • Medical Terminology
  • Medical Math
  • Nutrition
  • Behavioral Health
  • Medical Ethics and Law
  • Human Growth and Development
  • Pharmacology

Each of these events take great planning, studying, practice, and mentorship. Our students seek out mentors and job shadows and spend countless hours learning some of the hands on and professional skills of these trades. We look forward to competing at state March 20-21, 2017.

Committee Work and Planning- HOSA students learn many intangible skills by working on committees and planning events. They learn team work, communication, budgeting, time management, responsibility, and so many other soft skills by planning out HOSA events. Just a few of the events students have had a part in planning this year include: multiple fundraisers, a blood drive, a Pennies for Patients campaign with the American Lymphoma Society, classroom presentations for grade school ages students, marketing campaigns, and community health programs.

Guest Speakers- We are very grateful for all the speakers who have come in to share about their careers and career pathways with our students. If you are interested in speaking to our students, please let us know.