Gainesville High students qualify for state health competition
Press release from Alachua County Public Schools
Thirty-one students from the Gainesville High School Academy of Health Professions have qualified to compete in the upcoming State Leadership Conference for HOSA, an organization for future healthcare professionals.
The students all earned top-three finishes in their categories during the recent regional conference, which included more than 560 competitors from 21 high schools. Fourteen of the GHS students took first place in their categories, which cover subjects ranging from biomedical laboratory to pathophysiology to medical photography.
According to the HOSA website, the competitions are designed to “provide a system for recognizing the competencies developed by members through Health Science and Biomedical Science class instruction, related job training, and HOSA related activities.”
Students competed in both team and individual events to qualify for the state conference, which will be held in Orlando in early April. Participants then have the opportunity to earn the right to compete in the HOSA International Leadership Conference in Houston in late June.
The Academy of Health Professions was launched at GHS in 1993. In 2008 it became the first professional career academy in the district. The focus is to provide experience for students interested in pursuing technical training in health-related careers.
The students who have qualified for the state conference are:
Narissa Ali, Bae Cabigting, Alexander Becker – 2nd place HOSA Bowl
James Cohen, Sophia Padilla – 1st place – Medical Innovations
Abby Eckhardt, Carter Jones, Lilliana Soto – 2nd place – Medical Innovations
Anna Broling, Amy Bush, Amber Frey and Aarushi Priya – 2nd place – Public Service Announcement
Julia Eby – 1st place – Dental Terminology
Katherine Sammy – Medical Reading – 1st Place
Alexis Smith – Medical Terminology – 1st place
Zoe Lammers – Medical Terminology – 3rd place
Isabelle Lednicky – 1st place – Pathophysiology
Emily Quach – 1st place – Biomedical Laboratory
Brandon Kong – 1st place – Clinical Specialty
Kayla Williams – 1st place – Home Health Aide
Angel Amigo – 2nd place – Home Health Aide
Jakob Schenck – 1st place – Physical Therapy
Malena Brinson – 2nd place – Physical Therapy
Kysa Flores – 3rd place – Physical Therapy
Kalley Waldrop – 3rd place – Extemporaneous Writing
Elaina Rollins – 1st place – Medical Photography
Arden Loftus – 1st Place – Researched Persuasive Writing and Speaking
Payton Bumgarner and Tori Moore – 2nd place – Public Health
Kody Brock and Cole Whitehead – 1st place – EMT