On Feb. 27 and 28, HOSA students will be traveling to John B. Connally High School for Area Competition. Depending on the category of competition, students will either compete Friday or Saturday.

After preparing since the start of school, students have the opportunity to present themselves and their projects in front of a panel of judges. Many have invested long hours into preparing for this competition in hopes to advance to state.

“Since we have worked really hard on this and have spent a long time preparing for it, we are looking forward to maybe winning, and if not just sharing everything we experienced,” Sarah Gorban ‘16 said.

It is a goal for all students to gain exposure to various aspects of competition by participating, as well as becoming educated in the medical field. Students have the option to compete in a variety of categories such as Medical Innovation, Creative Problem Solving, Physical Therapy and Public Health. There are also individual and group competitions, so everyone can find a topic and option that suits them.

“I just want to experience HOSA; I am not really looking to win anything,” Krishna Vaidyanathan ‘18 said. “I just want to be prepared for future years if I want to compete competitively, but for now it’s just for fun to see how it is.”

Students will be leaving school Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. on a school bus and will return Friday night. On Saturday, for those students with events in the morning, a bus will charter them from Westwood and return again in the evening. Saturday afternoon marks the awards ceremony.

“Our goal is to make it to state, but even if we don’t, I still like learning new things and collaborating with teammates through HOSA and this competition,” Shreyas Ranganath ‘17 said.