Posts tagged HOSA

I had to catch the bus at 6:45 in the morning for the Health Occupations Students of America Fall Leadership conference. I felt a little nervous I don’t really think I have ever gone or experience any type of conference much less a leadership conference. Thankfully my friend Lizzie was along for the ride too.

On our way to the Clarion Meridian Convention Center (that is where the conference was held) we calmed each other’s nerves by sitting quietly and talking about the days events.  When we arrived, I started to feel the butterflies flutter in my stomach, not pleasant. A tall and lean, light-skin guy dressed in a dark blue suit was making brief speeches to vote for him as State HOSA President and giving out flyers when we walked in. Based on my first impression of him, he looked like he would make a good President.  I quickly scanned the flyer and read the bottom which said “Peace, Love, and HOSA,” nope that is not random at all. I looked up and realized that it’s literally not random because everyone had an orange tie-dye shirt saying “Peace, Love and HOSA.” I felt left out until Ms. Cravens, my teacher, gave us our t-shirts. We enter the “Majestic Ballroom” (woah) and it was big enough to fit all of us who were there. We started by being introduced to our state HOSA Officers (The AWESOME president was from AWESOME Metro-Technology Centers ).

After the brief introduction we had to vote for this year’s officers. Our first speaker was a man named Underwood. Mr. Underwood was a kind and, how do I say this, cool guy. He really has this kid in him that makes you like him right away. Through his presentation he gave us three statements that I believe are very powerful. “Enthusiasm is Power,” which is true because if you are not enthusiastic about something, you are not likely to succeed in it. “Encouragement is Awesome,” that is self-explanatory but, I do love to hear encouragement! The final one, “Leaders make Leaders,” no one that I know of has not had someone that inspired them to become a better person. We follow by example and so I believe this is the most important phrase anyone should remember. His wife, Carrie Underwood, (not the famous singer) joined him and began her speech.  She was bubbly and full of excitement.

Our first task was to get into pairs and then one of us had to pretend to be the mayor of Oklahoma and the other, a HOSA officer. Our goal was to inform the mayor of what HOSA was and what our officer’s role was. It went horrible; I honestly did not know what HOSA was or what my role was! Mrs. Underwood saw this and the first thing she taught us was about first impressions. We learned how to shake hands, look straight into the other person’s eyes, dress properly and how to sit up and keep our posture straight. 

Next mission was to learn about HOSA! Get ready for this; HOSA stands for Health Occupation Students of America which gives internship opportunities, scholarship opportunities, leadership skills, and shares information about health occupations. On my way into lunch at Chelino’s, I turn around and *BAM* there is the Mayor!  ”Well Good Afternoon youngster what is this HOSA you have on your shirt?” he said.  “Good afternoon Mayor, my name is Jessica De La Cruz and I am with the Association of HOSA. HOSA stands for Health Occupation Students of America. HOSA spreads the word of Health Occupations, it gives scholarship and internship opportunities to its members and it also provides leadership skills. Each chapter has its own officers and I serve the chapter as Reporter and Historian” I said.  MISSION COMPLETE!!!! It wasn’t the best introduction but it’s better than nothing, right? The State officer’s came in and introduced the new officers (All my votes won except one, but let’s not talk about that one). We were then released and free to eat lunch! It was a pretty good day and to be honest I felt a lot more confident walking out of there. I don’t feel totally lost anymore about what HOSA is and I learned a few good tips on how to make a lasting first impression and how to be a better person in this world!