On April 10th, 2022, ten student members of Arrowhead High School’s HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) club left for the Wisconsin State Leadership Conference in Chula Vista, Wisconsin Dells.

According to Arrowhead High School’s website, “the mission of HOSA is to empower HOSA-Future Health Professionals to become leaders in the global health community through education, collaboration, and experience.”

The conference lasted three days (from April 10 through April 12) and students listened to motivational speakers, watched and learned from healthcare presentations, participated in fitness activities, and worked on team building while also participating in a Health Science Competition.

Arianna Kaas (junior), Mahathi Karthikeyan (senior), Shira Gui (sophomore), and Ellie Loyd (junior)created a Public Service Announcement about Bone Marrow Transplants and won second place in the Public Service Announcement category.

Ellie Lloyd said she joined HOSA with the intent of gaining volunteer hours, and was not originally planning on competing.  She has volunteered in events such as childrens’ vision screenings, writing to children at St. Jude Hospital, and helping out Aurora.  

Lloyd says she “would like to be a pediatric oncology nurse practitioner.”

Emery Cummins-Brown (freshman), Jimmy Flynn (freshman) and Manasi Karthikeyan (freshman) created a project on mental health and won first place in the Community Awareness Event category.

Maddy Esser (junior), Candice Lin (junior), and Anne Kredell (junior) created a lesson for a middle school on the dangers of drinking, and won second place in the Health Education category.

Arrowhead’s HOSA has been invited to attend and compete in the HOSA International Leadership Conference due to their work up to this point.  It will take place in June 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee.  The team has not yet decided if they are going to attend.