Four Luverne High School Health Occupations Students of America members (Abbi Sanders, Haeden Helms, Kaitlin Galloway and Bailey Wilson) their advisor (Becky Cornelius), and a chaperone/parent (Traci Sanders) attended the 38th Annual HOSA National Leadership Conference (NLC) June 22-28 2015 in Anaheim, Calif.

There were 8,550 attendees at the conference using seventeen hotels throughout the area. Abbi Sanders and Haeden Helms were able to attend NLC because they placed second at the state level in the Health Career Display.

Bailey Wilson created the club’s scrapbook for the Outstanding HOSA Chapter Event where the book has to express proof of a wide variety of activities and is graded based on the club’s accomplishments and partnerships.

Kaitlin Galloway is an Alabama HOSA officer, Vice President of Programs and Services, so she was required to attend the NLC to run the Alabama HOSA meeting, attend Leadership workshops and various National meetings to make decisions and vote on policies for the organization. As an officer, she served as a voting delegate for our state in the HOSA National Officer election that is held at the NLC.

Local Chapter President, Abbi Sanders, served as a workshop ambassador for two workshops where she introduced the speakers and managed the meeting space before, during and after the workshops. Advisor Becky Cornelius served as the Quality Assurance representative as Alabama HOSA Advisors ran the Job Seeking Skills Event on Thursday night that featured 79 competitors from all over the United States.

Bailey Wilson was awarded a plaque and was recognized on stage for her scrapbook work as the club was named an “Outstanding HOSA Chapter.”

Abbi Sanders and Haeden Helms did progress to round two in their event for their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Nurse display.

Less than half of the competitors made it to round two where the students actually had to give a five-minute explanation of the career and display in front of the judges. Round one was merely judging the display itself.

At the Friday night recognition session, 12 Crenshaw County HOSA members were recognized to be awarded the Barbara James Service Award for contributing a minimum of fifty hours of community service with Crenshaw County HOSA during the 2014-2015 school year.

The HOSA Chapter was also awarded a Merit Award for participating in the HOSA National Service Project and contributing $1080 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through their Pennies for Patients drive.

The Luverne HOSA attendees enjoyed phenomenal speakers during the opening and recognition sessions, interactive workshops, swapping pins with students from all over our nation, fierce competition with the best of the best in HOSA Competitive events, and visiting the many tourist attractions of California. The group was able to take a guided tour to Los Angeles, Hollywood Blvd., Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Venice Beach.

They were also able to spend HOSA Day in Anaheim, Saturday June 27th, at Disneyland and California Adventure.

“Coming together with 8,550 HOSA students and future health professionals was an amazing experience and what made it even better, we were in California,” said upcoming senior HOSA member Bailey Wilson. “It is beautiful and the weather is amazing. Receiving the plaque for Outstanding HOSA Chapter made the whole trip worth it. It’s what I went there to get and was determined to bring it home! The tourist sites were so much fun! I will never forget this experience. HOSA is life!”

Advisor Becky Cornelius was also pleased.

“It is not often that a group from our area can attend a national competition, especially not all the way in California,” she said. “Our HOSA club is blessed to have awesome students that excel in order to compete at this level. I work very hard at my job to train future healthcare professionals and I love to see my students succeed! We are very fortunate to have the support system within our community and schools to get us to this level. This was an awesome experience for us all and I hope we can take even more students to the next National Leadership Conference.”