Eight students that recently participated in online testing for HOSA will be advancing to the state and area levels of competition.

“The HOSA Officer Team is very proud of the people who both participated and advanced in online testing,” HOSA officer Haniah Bashir said. “The tests are often difficult with a large amount of students competing for a spot to advance, so we are very thankful to have several students representing the HOSA Liberty chapter at the next competition level.”

For junior Lisa Punnen, advancing is a new experience that she has been working towards for multiple years now.

“I’m really happy that I advanced because this is my third year trying this test,” Punnen said. “I just wanted to see how it would go the first year just to get an idea of the test and prepare for it better next year but I didn’t get to study that much the next year either so this year I finally got a chance to really look at the textbook and I’m really happy that I’m getting to advance.”

Officers have been working alongside competitors and assisting them in their events to prepare them and perfect their skills.

“We held several studying sessions before online testing to prepare our members,” Bashir said. “In these study sessions, we discussed the process of testing and provided study materials for them to review.”

Along with giving competitors an opportunity to explore health related topics, the HOSA competitions also provide a useful tool that can aid competitors in their further education.

“I decided on pathophysiology because it seemed the most relevant,” Punnen said. “I want to be a doctor and I felt like this kind of stuff would be the most useful because this would really help me with medical school in the future.”

Advancing to State Level of Competition:

Dental Terminology: William Wang (2nd)

Medical Reading: Samantha Wood (3rd)

Pathophysiology: Lisa Punnen (3rd)

Advancing to Area Level of Competition:

Biomedical Debate team: Ria Bhasin, Elana Breslav, Merlyn George, Shobha Melukote (top 10)

Medical Spelling: Annam Ramasamy (top 15)