Walking into a large environment to compete in the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Regionals presents contestants with a rush of energy before competing during the day in their preferred medical field.

“At the end of the day, during the awards, the energy was very hype due to the anticipation of whether you are moving onto States or not; and it was very rewarding when you went up to get your medal,” junior Alessandra Gigliotti said.

Out of 38 members who competed, 25 advanced to state competition by placing top six in their event. The competition will take place from March 8-10 at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Traverse City. To prepare for States, students will continue to study books they studied for Regionals; there are different books for different categories.

“I know I’ll just read over the books again and make sure I do the same things [for States] that I did for Regionals,” senior vice president Sophia Schultz said. “[I’m proud of] winning first.”

At HOSA competitions members compete in various events such as: sports medicine, parliamentary procedures and creative problem solving. In creative problem solving, members take a test and each group works to solve a problem. Members work with their group for 30 minutes, preparing a presentation to demonstrate their solution to judges. 

“I think we did very well, probably the best we’ve done as a group ever,” club sponsor Philip Crum said. “The kids prepared better. There’s obviously more experience for me knowing how to get the kids ready for the competition, but it’s in the kids as far as putting in the time.”