Edwardsville High School healthcare enthusiasts demonstrated their prowess at the HOSA State competition in Springfield from March 20 to March 22.
HOSA is a student-led organization for future healthcare professionals.
Of the 1,301 competitors, 12 of them were from EHS: Jumana Bahrainwala, Rylie Dodd, Jazmin Hayes, Bree Kloostra, Sammy Kourinos, Alanna Lepler, Addyson Moore, Ava Rahman, Libby Strahm, Kenan Strahm, Varsha Venigalla and Anna Zude.
Senior Anna Zude had competed at the HOSA competition the year before and had differing opinions on the emotions during the days of the competition.
“I was a lot more nervous last year because that was my first year,” Zude said. “This year I was relaxed and could enjoy myself more.”
Zude competed in the health career photography category and placed fourth overall. She also competed as a team with fellow senior Ava Rahman in the mental health promotion category, where they placed sixth.
Zude found that the stress involved in team competitions was far more drastic than working alone.
“I didn’t want to let the team down by messing up during Ava and I’s event,” Zude said. “That was much more nerve-wracking but also more rewarding.”
There were several different categories to enter into at HOSA, one of them being a medical spelling competition.
Kenan Strahm, a senior at EHS, placed third in this competition and was able to describe what exactly it entailed.
“It was a traditional spelling bee with words that were related to medicine,” Kenan Strahm said. “Most of the words had prefixes and suffixes, and I made sure to memorize those before the competition.”
Strahm and Zude were not the only EHS students to place at the HOSA competition. Jumana Bahrainwala, Bree Kloostra and Libby Strahm placed second in the medical reserve corp competition and Jumana Bahrainwala also placed fifth in the research poster competition.
The students that placed first, second, or third will move on to the international competition in Houston this summer. Even those who will not advance to the international competition, are proud of their accomplishments, nonetheless.
“I feel we made a difference in our school,” Zude said. “Even though we didn’t qualify for the International Competition in Texas this year, I’m happy with our performance.”
