By: MMACHS Staff
Qualifying for the International Leadership Conference is a goal that many MMACHS HOSA students set for themselves at the beginning of the academic year. Doing so requires them to place in the top three of their respective events at the State Leadership Conference in the spring, which this year was held at the Idaho State University campus in Pocatello. With that, before even taking off for Dallas, TX our chapter had set a record by qualifying its largest number of students in the program's history, and the 62 students who made the trip represented the largest delegation that MMACHS had ever taken to the event.
But the records did not stop there. Measuring success at ILC is different that at the State Conference in Idaho. Every student in attendance placed in their respective state competition (or country competition in the case of China, South Korea, and Canada), so even making it to the second round is considered an accomplishment. Earning a spot on stage at the closing ceremonies as a top-ten "finalist" is recognized as an amazing achievement. Winning a medal is a feat that very few HOSA members get to realize, and securing a gold medal is the pinnacle of competitive HOSA.
By those metrics, the HOSA 2023 delegation was an overwhelming success.
The week started out with the vast majority of MMACHS students qualifying for the second round of their events. Given the large number of students who attend, it's impossible for the conference to allow every team or individual to show off their skills, so a multiple choice test is employed to narrow the field. Often times this test knocks out over half of the event's competitors, and the fact that such a large number of MMACHS students made it through this filtering process is a testament to their preparedness.
At the grand awards session the good news continued, with a total of eleven MMACHS students making stage in four different events. Elle Door (Class of '24), a first year HOSA member, made stage by finishing 7th overall in Extemporaneous Writing. Hazel Fuhs (Class of '25), also in her first year with MMACHS HOSA, staged by placing 6th in Pathophysiology.
Additionally, nine students came home with first place medals around their necks. In the first grand awards session a team of recently graduated seniors (Hannah Cathrae, Alexis Conway, Ashlynn Heath, Kaylee McCulloch, Ethan Skinner, Anna Swanke, and Amelia Ware) secured our school's first ever gold medal in Parliamentary Procedure. In CPR / First Aid, Noor Abdulkareem and Olivia Baber (both Class of '25) earned a spot at the top of the podium. The gold medals were only the 6th and 7th in MMACHS HOSA history, demonstrating just how rare this accomplishment is.
The chapter as a whole was also recognized for its contributions to Be the Match, having raised approximately $1600 over the course of the year for HOSA's National Service Project Partner. Rising sophomore Emily Davis also received honors as a bronze level recipient of the Barbara James Service Award for 107 hours of community service.
With the slate now wiped clean, HOSA members set their sites on the 2023-2024 academic school year. Next year's SLC will once again be at Idaho State University in Pocatello, and ILC will be staying in the Lone Star State when it moves to Houston next June.
Congrats to all of our members for their excellent performance!
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