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On Friday, March 15th, the local HOSA chapter for the Chambers County School District met to celebrate the accomplishments of several members in the library at Valley High School. 

HOSA Future Health Professionals, formerly known as Health Occupations Students of America, is an international career and technical student organization endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education.  The HOSA chapter is sponsored by Jennifer Williams who serves as the district’s health science teacher. 

The CCSD shared in a press release announcing that several of their students from the local chapter of HOSA qualified to compete at the HOSA International Leadership Conference planned for June 26th through 29th in Houston, Texas. Students are being challenged to change their perspective, adjust their goals, and get ready to “Dare to Create” as the theme for this year’s conference.  

The event will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX. At the Alabama State Competition, Bailey Haney placed in the top six in Prepared Public Speaking and Kaydence Allen and David Paschal placed in the top six in CPR and First Aide. Shelby Bell, Lexi Chambers, Madison Turnham, and Molly Williams placed 1st in the state in Health Education and have been invited to compete at the HOSA International Competition. 

Members of the HOSA chapter have also worked throughout this school year to launch a public health campaign to educate local communities as part of the Operation Wipeout partnership with the University of Alabama-Birmingham.  

Students have run a multi-media campaign to alert families in Chambers County about options for cervical cancer screening and the availability of the HPV vaccine for students. The goal is to raise awareness and remove Chambers County from the top spot for incidence per capita for the risk of cervical cancer. 

On March 13, 22 middle school students were vaccinated and protected from the risk of contracting HPV.  HOSA students from Valley and Lafayette have joined together for the effort.

 CCSD asks anyone interested in supporting the student’s efforts to travel to Houston, TX for the competition can reach out to Williams at williamsje@chambersk12.org