Students have the opportunity to branch out and explore several different programs at EHS including Health Occupations Students of America (H.O.S.A).  Seniors Zoe Sproat-Boger and Chelsey Brown recently took 1st place at the H.O.S.A competition and they have a story to tell about the adventure it took them to get there.  

 H.O. S. A., students compete annually in health, medicine, and science-related events. At a competition, “students will get into small groups and talk for about 5 minutes for a certain topic”, Zoe says. Different topics are discussed, “ we talked about Nuclear Pharmacists while we were looking at our notes”, she said with enthusiasm. 

Due to COVID, these students couldn’t have a regular competition since the beginning of 2020. A virtual competition was their only option;  students got dressed up, got to the school early on the weekend, and faced a camera.  The students in the program were pretty upset about not having a competition and so was Mrs. Erb, the teacher of biomedical interventions and also the leader/advisor of the program. As an advisor, Erb helps the students with their topics and gets them where they need to be. Stress is a big thing for these students so she also helps them get through each competition mentally too.  Fianlly, at the last competition there was a bit of normalcy, a long day was in process with just getting everything together, “the start of the day begins at 7 am just getting to the building but we get there at 8 am and won’t get back home until 3 pm,” Chelsey said. 

Chelsy Brown has been doing H.O.S.A for a couple of years now so she knows what to expect when going into a serious competition. Being a member of this program is a huge deal for Brown. “I’ve been a member much longer than Zoe, since my freshman year but I have learned so much skill for many opportunities with my future”, said Brown. She will be going into the medical field like Sproat-Broger. Nursing is a big dream job and H.O.S.A will help continue that dream. “Learning new things along my journey in becoming a nurse, I can definitely look back and see how much I changed with just understanding how to present a topic at a competition,” Brown shared.

H.O.S.A has been around for quite some time now here at Edgewood, “this amazing program came here way before I can remember in 1976 is where it got its title!”  Brown had so much excitement sharing this. This program has been growing everyday with so many talented people who want to use this for their career field.