This past week, our very own BJHS HOSA went to Montgomery, AL, to compete in the HOSA State Leadership Conference! Don’t know what SLC is? Well, it’s Alabama HOSA’s biggest event of the year where nearly 2,000 of Alabama’s future healthcare professionals get together for competitions, networking, industry exhibits, and the election of the state officer. As well as this year’s keynote speaker Christina Wells.

From February 29th to March 1st, HOSA students had many activities, such as “Participating in a simulation on learning how to intubate someone” and got “Exposed to the unconventional fields of medicine.” senior Anisha Katoch stated. Among other things, networking is a big part of the SLC, “Best part of SLC was the connections I made with other HOSA members from across Alabama.” Anisha also stated. SLC is a great motivator for many HOSA students, such as junior Enni Nguyen, who stated, “These past few years of attending SLC have greatly inspired me to strive for maximum divinity during next year’s State Leadership Conference. I aspire to achieve a greater level of academic excellence.”. 

This year’s SLC elected state officer was Bob Jones’s very own Maribel Marrero! In preparation for becoming the state officer, Maribel stated, “The whole process of becoming a state officer is very extensive and takes a lot of time, and stress, but focussing on each individual task really helped me give my full effort at the end of the day.”. This election also meant a lot to Maribel because it meant becoming Alabama HOSA’s first Latina state officer, “The most important part of my preparation was to stay true to myself. Becoming the first Latina Alabama HOSA state officer, I put a lot of pressure on myself during the election process and my term to set a precedent for future officers and stay true to my roots.”. 

Here are some other BJHS HOSA student winners. 

Anisha Katoch- HOSA Scholarship Recipient 

Gwendolyn Sexton- 2nd Place Medical Law & Ethics 

Cindy Liao- 2nd Place Nutrition 

Elizabeth Lee- Top 6 Nutrition 

Alina Vu- 1st Place Clinical Laboratory Science 

Samantha Smith- Top 6 Clinical Laboratory Science 

Rajvi Singh, Joslin Shropshire, Rushi Patel, and Charlie Huang- 1st Place Biomedical Debate

Areej Gouda, Anisha Katoch, Maribel Marrero, and Dhara Patel- 2nd Place Biomedical Debate

Swetha Jakka- 1st Place Behavioral Health

Zaylee Rodgers- 3rd Place Healthcare Issues Exam

Lucy Phillips- Top 6 Epidemiology 

Zaylee Rodgers- Top 6 Veterinary Science