By MMACHS Staff
Last week sixty-sixty MMACHS students attended the 47th annual HOSA: Future Health Professionals International Leadership Conference in Houston, TX after having qualified by placing at the Idaho HOSA State Leadership Conference in March. Along with attending educational symposiums, visiting local sites, and enjoying time with their peers, our Guardian Knights found time to take home a number of impressive accolades.
On Friday evening our chapter was recognized as the third largest fundraiser in the world for the National Marrow Donor Program. NMDP is the world's leader in connecting patients in need of a bone marrow transplant with matching donors. Through a number of events such as the annual HOSA Haunted House, a raffle at the HOSA Bazaar, and HOSA Out-to-Dinner Nights at various restaurants across Meridian, our Guardian Knights were able to raise over $4,000 for this life saving organization. Their efforts were honored at the annual Recognition Session, held on the third night of the conference. 2024-2025 Fundraising Chair Emily Davis accepted the award on behalf of the chapter.
Competitively MMACHS students shined in events spanning multiple categories. First, an extraordinary number of students made it through to the second round of their respective competitions, an incredible accomplishment in its own right when competing against teams who all finished in the top three in their state or country's leadership conference. Even more impressive, however, was that during the two recognition sessions MMACHS individuals or teams were called up on to the stage as Top-10 finalists on four separate occasions. The final results were as follows:
2nd Place - Public Service Announcement: Ryder Dacones, Lauren Jones, Graci Saul
5th Place - Pathophysiology: Hazel Fuhs
5th Place - Emergency Medical Technician: Elle Dorr and Elijah Zimmerman
7th Place - Parliamentary Procedure: Alexis Black, Emily Daniell, Emily Davis, Dylan Elkington, Halle Nielsen, Claire Seabrease.
The silver medal brought home by the PSA team marks the fourth medal in the last three years, bringing the MMACHS HOSA ILC medal count up to a total of sixteen.
Additionally, recent MMACHS graduate and current Idaho HOSA President Jentri Van Ackern was recognized as an outstanding state leader, and was honored on stage during Friday's recognition ceremony. Jentri will continue to serve as Idaho State HOSA President through her first year of college.
We are so proud of the time, effort, and energy that our students put into their work, and so happy for those who were recognized on stage this year.
Next year's ILC will take place in Nashville, Tennessee, and MMACHS hopes to once again be well represented as part of the Idaho delegation. Great job Guardian Knights!