HOSA at Enloe High School

HOSA-Future Health Professionals is an international career and technical student organization (CTSO) recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Health Science Education division of the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) [1]. In offering over 235,000 students and 2.4 million alumni across the globe leadership development, service, outreach, competitive event, and technical experiences, opportunities such as HOSA-Future Health Professionals propel today's students to become tomorrow's health care professionals.

William G. Enloe High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, is proud to have one of the largest HOSA chapters in the state, with over 140 members this year. However, Enloe HOSA was not always a trailblazer in terms of its deep involvement within health science education; established in 2012 with a little over 20 members, Enloe HOSA has since strived to “make the mission of HOSA a reality” that participating students can share with peers, educational partners, and within the local health care community [2]. Enloe HOSA passionately strives to “train students to become successful future health professionals, and to ensure that they have the opportunities they need to succeed in their future career aspirations within the realm of health care” [2]. Each year, Enloe HOSA members compete in a wide array of competitive events, ranging from hands-on experiences such as performing CPR/First Aid on test subjects and dummies to knowledge-based written examinations based on many health care disciplines and speech- and presentation-based competitions. Students also fundraise and serve in their local health care community to support HOSA's service project—currently the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. And in recent years, Enloe HOSA is proud to have had five students represent the chapter as regional officers, one student serve as NC HOSA's State Vice President last year, and one student currently representing HOSA-Future Health Professionals at an international level as the Secondary Board Representative on HOSA's Executive Council.

Enloe High School is also home to the National Academy Foundation (NAF) Nationally Distinguished Medical BioScience Academy (MBSA). In providing students with “sound academic foundations and technical skills that will enable them to continue their educations beyond high school and obtain employment in health care fields,” MBSA complements the multitude of opportunities HOSA-Future Health Professionals offers at Enloe High [3].

With many students passionate about pursuing health care at Enloe High School, aspiring to occupations such as physician, surgeon, researcher, and biomedical engineer, Benicia Ledford, health science instructor and proud Enloe HOSA advisor/faculty mentor, saw the need to add courses such as biomedical technology during her first year at the school seven years ago. She had “so many students expressing interest in various biomedical careers,” but saw that they had “nowhere to nurture that interest” (personal communication, Benicia Ledford, instructor, Enloe HOSA, February 2019). Since offering courses such as Biomedical Technology I/II, Health Science I/II, Pharmacy Technician Certification Courses, and more, Enloe High School's department of Career and Technical Education, specifically the Health Science Education branch, has enabled hundreds of students to take advantage of specialized courses and opportunities through HOSA. Through these opportunities, Ledford says that “instead of simply doctors, we now have students seeking to help solve the problems that face the field of health care today—the problems of creating organs, developing new medical devices, developing apps that would solve medical quandaries, and more.” She says that this is a “drastic change from years past” (personal communication, Benicia Ledford, instructor, Enloe HOSA, February 2019).

Enloe MBSA and HOSA-Future Health Professionals are proud to have many educational and professional partners across the state of North Carolina, from private medical practices to research/technical companies to non-profit organizations. Students at Enloe High who are passionate about health care have access to job-shadowing opportunities, work-based learning experiences, internship opportunities, scholarship and stipend offerings, and more.

Speaking about Enloe students' multitude of career aspirations within the realm of health care, Tiffany Persaud, a senior serving as Enloe HOSA's secretary, cites the fact that “the human body and how it works” is extremely fascinating, comparing it to “another world at one's fingertips.” In the field of health care, she says, one knows that “every and any form of care will come to impact someone's life.” Furthermore, she says, “the ability to cause such change is exciting” (personal communication, Tiffany Persaud, senior student, Enloe HOSA, February 2019). Rohan Vora, a junior passionate about pursuing biomedical engineering, says that he wants to “give back and help people” in his community; by working in a health care career, he says, he will be “able to help people in the best way” that he can. He adds that he is excited about the “different opportunities and career paths” he can choose from, and the different aspects of those careers (personal communication, Rohan Vora, junior student, Enloe HOSA, February 2019). I myself am passionate about pursuing neuroscience and psychology in college, aspiring to become a neurosurgeon by profession. My passion for neuroscience and health care is driven by a combination of my continued sense of intellectual inquiry and the value I believe the field has in improving people's lives. These ambitions have been sparked by exposure I have gained through my diverse experiences within the field of health care, such as HOSA-Future Health Professionals.

The mindsets of these Enloe students exemplify the diversity of the field of health care itself, and of its future. With students at Enloe High School passionate about pursuing careers in surgery, anesthesiology, biomedical engineering, osteopathic medicine, ayurvedic specialization, pediatrics, and education, to name a few, the future of our local health care community seems stronger than ever—all starting in health science classrooms across the state.

HOSA-Future Health Professionals aims to “empower [students] to become leaders in the global health community through education, collaboration, and experience” [1]. In doing so, HOSA offers to students the unique opportunity of being a part of something larger than the individual—a program of “motivation, awareness, and recognition,” all of which serve as integral parts of the Health Science Education instructional program, enabling students to “learn, lead, serve, and innovate,” propelling them to forge their path and “define their purpose” within the field of health care [1].

• ©2019 by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and The Duke Endowment. All rights reserved.