HOSA starts off their third year on the right foot with a successful first blood drive and a One Blood conference where they gained a better understanding of other aspects within blood donation.
President of HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) senior Sebastian Rodriquez is enthusiastic about announcing the club has planned 3 more blood drives where student’s donations can make a difference.
“We also have 3 more One Blood drives scheduled for the remaining quarters to allow students to take part in our community service project and donate blood. One pint from your donation is enough to save 3 adult lives or 8 babies, so if you are reading this strongly consider it,” Rodriquez said.
The schedule for blood drives is organized by the club in the beginning of the chapter. HOSA advisor Kristen Fendone shares dates for some of the blood drives planned so far.
“In addition to the blood drives we host during school days we have one planned for the Fall Block Party on October 12th and one during the summer pop up shops. Throughout the school year we already have one planned for December, one for February and one for the end of the year,” Fendone said.
Once the 2024-25 school year started HOSA drew a goal of donations they aim to reach throughout the year. Vice President of public relations senior Alejandro Contador is optimistic about the goals set up by the club and believe they are headed in the right direction.
“Right now, our goal for the end of the year is 130 donations. With our first drive we got 40 donations, and we still have a few more to go so I think we are on the right track,” Contador said.
Contador explained the main goal of the association is to spread awareness on the impact blood donation has. So much so that the members themselves are donors and take part in donating blood.
“We are very admen about the One blood cause, and we are always trying to make people at the school more aware of how it can help people and so the officers and members like to participate and donate as well. I unfortunately could not participate myself, but I have donated my junior year,” Contador said.
On August 29th HOSA members attended the One Blood conference where they were introduced to the steps after the blood donation. The conference took place in Dezerland Orlando and was an immersive experience for the members who were interested in understanding their role within the club.
“It was a really nice experience to begin with, we could see there were many other schools from around the area, first we were introduced to the speakers and the topics that were going to be discussed in the conference, the speakers talked about how One blood has helped them with blood donations specifically , after that we were taught how the blood is processed in the One blood facilities,” Contador said.
With no time to waste, the club had already begun their next project which involved going down to the Elementary campus. Some members such as senior Carlee Johnson spent a day demonstrating to younger kids the importance of firefighters as well as emergency training.
“We went to lower [ campus] with the fire department to give the kindergarteners and first graders a demonstration and presentation of what it’s like to be a firefighter and what to do if there’s a fire in their house ,that is important to them because it’s good for little ones to know what to do if there’s is ever a fire or if they catch on fire,”Johnson said.
Every year the club welcomes new members who share an interest in medicine. This year junior Riley Cresswell joined HOSA in hopes of following her dream of becoming a travel nurse.
“I joined HOSA because I am really passionate about helping people and going into the medical field and HOSA is an amazing way to help me with that. For my career I want to be a nurse. I want to get my BSN [ Bachelors of Science in Nursing] in college and work at a hospital in Virginia since they are some of the tops there are but eventually, I would like to travel nursing and go around the world,” Cresswell said.
Contador, however, has more specific goals to reach while in the club. He intends to broaden his opportunities in the medical field and use his involvement with the association to get more experience in the area.
“I plan on studying radiology to become a radiology nurse, that is something I am very interested in, and so HOSA has given me the opportunity to learn more about the medical field and to find internships to shadow some doctors,” Contador said.
As the current president Rodriguez explains that as a leader in HOSA, he is keen to structure a stable place for HOSA and its members to thrive as a club.
“During my tenure as president, I hope to continue working on solidifying our position as a club. I want to create a routine for HOSA to follow throughout the years so that it can create some structure and vision for the succeeding generations. I also want to gather more students who may be interested in medicine as their career and invite them to join and check out some of our meetings so that they can see how it fits their goals and needs,” Rodriquez said.
