Health Occupation Students of America competed in the area competition at Plano East on Friday and Saturday where they qualified for state.

American Idol finalist Ron Bultongez started out the competition with a performance for the gathering of future medical professionals.

“He explained how he had been in and out of hospitals for a very long time, and the doctors and nurses who took care of him truly changed his life,” junior Anushka Sinha said. “He commended everyone in the room for wanting to dedicate their life to healthcare and making the world a better place. After the Opening Ceremony, we traveled to Plano East High School, where members competed in events such as medical terminology, medical spelling, health education, prepared speaking, and other recognition events.”

HOSA provides a unique program of leadership development, motivation, and recognition exclusively for secondary, postsecondary, adult, and collegiate students enrolled in health science education and biomedical science programs or have interests in pursuing careers in health professions.

“To prepare the students that were competing, the HOSA officer team created study sessions throughout the year,” senior Haniah Bashir said. “We assisted students that had any questions and offered to evaluate any projects or portfolios prior to the submission date.”

If HOSA advances past the state competition, they have the chance of going to the national conference at Disney World in Florida.

“I was extremely proud of myself and the other members that made it to state, and even the ones that didn’t,” Sinha said. “We knew that everyone worked very hard to even compete at area competition and their efforts paid off. I would’ve loved to see more members make it to the state competition so that we could represent Liberty High School as a whole.”

Results:

Anushka Sinha(junior)- 2nd place in Outstanding HOSA Chapter, advancing to state

Nalini Kantheti(sophomore)-2nd place in Medical Spelling, advancing to state

Praneeth Akkineni(freshman)- 4th place in Medical Spelling

William Wang(senior), Tom Punnen(freshman), Lisa Punnen(senior)-directly advancing to state from online testing