Rousing voices filled the auditorium at Byron P. Steele II High School on Friday, Feb. 7, as Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) members traveled to Cibolo, Texas for the Area 1 Spring Leadership Conference (SLC). Months of dedicated preparation were put to the test: students’ prepared projects, designed posters, and memorized scripts all built up this highly anticipated event, where members explored their passion for health science.

While waiting for their designated event time slots, members enjoyed a variety of activities, including a photo booth where they could capture memories with their teams. The Texas Area 1 officer team promoted their fundraiser for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) by selling spirit items like sunglasses, lightsticks, and cowboy hats to use in posing for the photo booth. Members could keep their printed photo booth strips, and post their memories on social media with the hashtag #Area1andOnly to get recognized. Next to the photobooth was the manifestation and friendship bracelet station where members could display their wishes along with a personal bracelet. 

“I really enjoyed the photo booth,” Phylicia Ren ‘25 said. “Usually the photo booth only offers the digital photos, but this time they printed out photos for us, which made it really special. I also liked the pink themed props [provided] for the photos.” 

Westwood’s produced two Area 1 officer candidates for the upcoming school year: Yoonjie Jung ‘26 and Jiatong Gao ‘26, both of which went through a rigorous selection process of online applications, interviews, and candidate speeches to get selected as Area 1 Officer Elects. Competing against 14 candidates, they were among the five elected officers who will officially receive their roles following the HOSA Officer Leadership Academy (HOLA) at the state conference.

A total of 67 students competed in various events focused on teamwork, leadership, and emergency preparedness. The top five competitors in each event earned recognition, but only the top three advanced to the State Leadership Conference (SLC) at the Kalahari Convention Center from April 29-May 1. Additionally, the top five competitors in each online testing event and the top 5% of those who took the Health Care Issues Exam (HCIE) secured a spot at the state level.

“My competition was pretty stressful because it was a medical spelling bee,” Mahati Geetla ‘27 said. “Everyone started at the same time, and they got slowly eliminated with different rounds. I survived till the last round, but I got my answer wrong so I got fourth place. I think I tried my best and hopefully I get to do better next year.”

The conference concluded with a closing ceremony, celebrating the dedication of advisers and sponsors who made the event possible. Members who submitted their HOSA spirit photos through Instagram were later displayed in the ceremony, representing each of their school chapters. The current Area One officers finished their term of office, and greeted their advisors with a special gift during the ceremony.

“It was really sad to give away my officer position because I enjoyed serving as an Area 1 officer,” former Area 1 Historian Olivia Jung said. “I’m very grateful that I could give a gift to Ms. Vivian because she was so helpful and supportive throughout my term. She traveled everywhere with me this year and I’m glad that I could show my appreciation towards her.” 

Through the conference, members were able to showcase their dedication for health science and receive recognition for their hard work.

“I think attending HOSA Area was a good experience overall,” Alexis Hwang ‘26 said. “My event was Forensic Science, and although I thought it was challenging, it was still really fun.”

The following students will be heading to the State Leadership Conference in Round Rock, TX from April 29-May 1:

Placed: 

Medical Spelling: Mahati Geetla ‘27 (4th Place),  Joan Amalraj ‘27 (8th Place), Brian Yung ‘28 (9th Place), Sunny Wang ‘28 (10th Place)

Biotechnology: Savya Baht ‘26 (4th Place)

Clinical Laboratory Science: Nithin Reddy Vemula ‘28 (9th Place)

Clinical Nursing: Sravya Akella ‘26 (5th Place)

Dental Science: Michelle Duffey ‘28 (7th Place)

Family Medicine Physician: Matthew Park ‘28 (10th Place)

Medical Assisting: Lyla Caballero ‘26 (4th Place)

Physical Therapy: Meera Iyengar ‘26 (4th Place)

Sports Medicine: Diya Trivedi ‘28 (7th Place)

Mental Health Promotion: Deetyaa Shah ’27, Vivian Young ‘28, Vedanti Patil ‘27, Hung Phan ‘27 Atharva Anand ‘27 (7th Place)

Health Career Photography: Deekshitha Kommi ‘28 (7th Place)

Prepared Speaking: Sophie Liu ‘25 (6th Place)

Researched Persuasive Writing and Speaking: Chaaya Annamreddy ‘27 (4th Place)

Medical Art Poster: Yoonjie Jung ‘26 (5th Place), Shanum Momeen ‘26 (9th Place)

Community Awareness: Krish Shenoy ‘27,  Miruthula Sivakumar ‘27(4th Place)

Creative Problem Solving: Lily Wang ‘27, Roshni Muthuswamy ‘27, Soomin Oh ‘27 (6th Place)

Health Career Display: Nitya Dani ‘26, Betul Ozgen ‘26 (4th Place); Sofia Watson ‘26, Nanxi Chen ‘26 (7th Place)

Medical Innovation: Avishka Boina ’26, Aarya Kale ‘26, Nishita Mukkara ‘26 (10th Place)

Public Service Announcement: Nithin Shankara ‘26, Arnav Maskey ‘26, Krithik Elango ‘26, Krishan Thilakraj ‘26, Siddharth Sripada ‘26 (5th Place)

Research Poster: Sunwoo Choi ‘26 (4th Place),  James Li ‘25 (7th Place)

Advanced: 

Biotechnology: Hasya Pamu ‘26 (2nd Place)

Clinical Nursing: Mriganka Singhal ‘28 (1st Place)

Nursing Assisting: Sevya Agarwal ‘25 (2nd Place)

Dental Science: Phylicia Ren ‘25 (1st Place)

Pharmacy Science: Ojasvi Chourasia ‘26 (2nd Place)

Veterinary Science: Tapasya Illuri ‘26 (2nd Place)

Public Health: Parisha Acharya ‘27, Emily Rincon ‘27, Sheerali Talati ‘27, Jacqueline Stone ‘27 (2nd Place) 

Research Poster: Yoonjie Jung ‘26 (3rd Place)

Medical Innovation: Minsung Kim ‘25, Shuyu Lai ‘25, Harry Liu ‘25, Marlene Luo ‘25 (1st Place)

Health Education: Saisha Siram ‘26, Saanika Parikh ‘26 (3rd Place)

Forensic Science: Alexis Hwang ‘26, Jiatong Gao ‘26 (2nd Place)

Online Testing Results:

Placed:

Health Informatics – Aiden Wen ‘26 (4th Place)

Medical Law and Ethics – Medha Katragadda ‘25 (5th Place)

Medical Math – Jonathan Chow ‘27 (4th Place)

Dental Terminology – Nikita Maralla ‘26 (5th Place)

Pathophysiology – Vedant Desai ‘26 (4th Place)

Advanced:

Nutrition: Yujie Zhang ‘25 (2nd Place), Kriti Roy ‘28 (3rd Place)

Dental Terminology – Haein Jung ‘27 (2nd Place)

Medical Math – Amy Li ‘26 (3rd Place) 

World Health & Disparities – Nihal Grandhi ‘28 (1st Place), Taehyun Kim ‘27 (2nd Place)

Epidemiology – Lucia Stein ‘26 (1st Place), Annie Zhu ‘26 (3rd Place)

Health Care Issues Exam: Kevin Qian ‘25, Satchi Patki ‘26, Annie Zhu ‘26, Joan Amalraj ‘27, Vincent Zhang ‘26, Mriganka Singhal ‘28, Kritanko Chakraborty ‘25