Have you ever been interested in healthcare and its wide range of topics? Well HOSA — a club offered at AHS that helps students explore careers in healthcare — is a great way to learn more about many of those topics.

This year Amherst has three qualifiers for the state HOSA competition — senior Parker Soulsby, junior Paige Lemke, and senior Riley Kostuch.

Their coach, Mrs. Pate, explained that these three students faced some of the hardest categories. For their categories, the students had to complete a rigorous 50-pt multiple choice test on their topic. For Sports Medicine and Veterinary Science, Parker and Paige had to do an Online Simulation with a judge accompanying them.

Overall, the AHS HOSA club did great.

“This has been the most kids we’ve ever had,” Pate explained. “Almost 20 kids competed in events and many of them [worked on] projects that had never been done before.”

Parker’s project was on Sports Medicine, so he learned about basic anatomical landmarks, how to measure angles of limbs as well as flexation. He also learned how to use a few taping techniques. Parker joined HOSA to learn more about healthcare before heading off to college.

Riley Kostuch had an event in Pathophysiology, where he completed an online test. Pathophysiology focuses on diseases and injuries. Riley joined HOSA because he wants to become a medical doctor, and HOSA provides many opportunities to learn more.

Paige Lemke completed a project in Veterinary Science. She learned about different aspects of animals, like the temperature and testing that is involved in different species. Paige joined HOSA because of her interest in the medical field.

If you are interested in joining HOSA and competing at the state level, our state qualifiers suggest that you study, study, study. Study with visual aids or without, but the most important thing is to understand your topic.

The state HOSA competition will be held in April.