The Future of Medicine in Pioneer

Melanie Salazar - January 9th, 2024

Squish. Never in my teenage life would I have thought that I would cut the tiniest heart of a chicken and a bold heart of a lamb.

It took me by surprise what a sudden direction Medical Biology would take me on the first year of the pathway, HOSA. But now I can gladly say that those cold bloodless non-pumping muscles held the knowledge I know today.

HOSA, also known as Health Occupations Students of America, is a pathway meant to be for any student with an interest in a medical career. This pathway is very similar to other pathways in our school like SkillsUSA and FFA. 

HOSA was first introduced into Pioneer in August 2021 in the beginning of the school year. It is also the name of the pathway since it's a national organization.

 Pathways work in the way that it's a yearly course in which progress in your skills in a particular program or department.

The classes that are involved with the pathway include med bio, sports medicine, and emergency med.

 Aside from learning more about what the medical department does, students also get the opportunity to take their knowledge and compete against other schools in competitions.

“I am pretty happy with what we're doing and getting students out there as trainers,” says Ms. Park in response to the positive growth HOSA has received in its 3 years in Pioneer, “We’re learning stuff, people seem to be having fun so I am happy,"

Ms. Park, aside from being a biology teacher, also works as an EMT. She has experience being both on field and teaching actual people who entered the EMT field. 

Ms. Park is HOSA’s supervisor and managing captain, some might even call her the boss, but she is always our #1 teacher.

In terms of the future of this pathway, there is a lot being planned in hopes to get other students to join. Therefore, they are going to introduce different branches into the pathway.

“We're hoping to add actual forensic pathway focus soon with Ms. Lafferty coming on board,” says Ms. Park. With other focuses, the HOSA pathway can grow even more than it originally has been.

Apart from HOSA itself, Ms. Park has been a hard-working teacher putting effort to increase the interest of other students in Pioneer.

 “Ms. Park is probably the most phenomenal person I have ever known,” Ms. Pareas, a science and AG teacher at Pioneer, says, “She is always given a lot of herself whenever we need her, she's right there.”

Ms. Park has taken the HOSA pathway and the medical side of Pioneer into a new era where students can increase their interest in the medical field.

 It is still new, however, it has a lot of very interesting pathways to branch off of it in the near future. “If you want to learn a lifelong skill that you can use for the rest of your life,” says Ms. Park, describing the pathway to newer underclassmen, “Come take a medical course.”