On November 9, Davie County High School hosted the HOSA 2024 Piedmont-Triad Regional Leadership Conference under the direction of Melissa Sparks, the Piedmont Triad Regional Board Representative of NCHOSA. HOSA is a club where future healthcare professionals can learn and practice the skills of their desired profession and speak to real healthcare professionals in that field.
This regional conference took many weeks of planning. Sparks started organizing the event in August by reaching out to local healthcare facilities to recruit thirty-nine judges. Judges were provided by Novant Healthcare, Atrium Health, Davie County Schools, and professionals from the community. Healthcare facilities also offered a career fair for students to explore different careers in the healthcare industry. Leading up to the day, many Davie County HOSA members stayed after school to fill fridges, paint the spirit rock, set up bags, fold pamphlets, and assign rooms to different competitive events in addition to preparing to compete in their own events.
Through their hard work and determination, Davie County and Davie County Early College HOSA were able to claim several awards. Junior Alexa Villa took home a first-place medal in Pharmacy Science, freshman Trista Yang won second place in Dental Science, junior Erik Pope won second place in Patient Care Technician, junior Vivian DeGiacomettiVitti won second place in Researched Persuasive Writing and Speaking, and freshman Piper Schilling won second place in Veterinary Science. Davie County HOSA had 19 Top 10 finishers, including two of three CPR and First Aid teams with juniors Yasmin Chambers, Natalie Laird, Abigail Lankford, and Kate Wilson who will all move on to compete in the second round at states in the spring.
Lankford, 2024 HOSA President for Davie High, not only competed in CPR and First Aid alongside her teammate Kate Wilson, but she also ran for the regional officer of the Piedmont-Triad position. She recalls practicing her speech at least 15 times. Overall, she is quite pleased with the performance of her fellow club members.
“I feel like all of the club members have the drive and want to be future health professionals,” Lankford said. “Their dedication at regionals showed that.”
To Lankford and other HOSA students, the success of this event goes back to the support of their teacher and advisor, Melissa Sparks.
“Ms. Sparks personally dedicated so much of her time to this club and always makes sure her members are cared for,” Lankford said.
