For months before state took place, students were getting ready to compete to hopefully advance to internationals.

On March 27th and 28th, students went to Rolla, Missouri to compete at the HOSA state competition. Out of the 28 competitors, 12 placed in the top five of their event. Out of those 12 students, five of them placed in the top 3 of their events.

By placing in the top 3, they are now qualified to compete at the HOSA state international leadership conference.  

“I am extremely proud of all of our student’s accomplishments,” said Mrs. Strathman.

Seniors Cameron Graham and Katelyn Bindbeutel placed third in Medical Innovation. Junior Daryn Adler placed second in Biomedical Laboratory Science. Junior Madison McGuire placed second in Medical Reading and junior Lexi Guffey placed second in Healthy Lifestyle.

Internationals takes place June 20-24 in Orlando, Florida. They have to prepare even more between now and June so they will do just as well at internationals as they did at state.

Daryn Adler started preparing for her event back in November. Then, in January she started working on her application to be state president and finally in February she started going to the lab.

Lexi Guffey started preparing back in September and worked on her event for a couple hours a week so that she felt that she was definitely prepared to compete.  

Other than competing, they also went to informational sessions where there were speakers talking about certain topics that they were interested in.

Since both Guffey and Adler applied to be part of the state office, they had to take tests, go to interviews and give presentations too.

When applying to be part of state office, one is not allowed to specifically say that you want a certain position. The judges decide who is the best for each position.

After all of the interviews, tests and presentations took place, Daryn Adler was announced state president and Lexi Guffey was announced the historian.

“At first I was in disbelief. It didn’t hit me that I was actually state president until I got up on stage,” said Adler.

It was most definitely not easy. A total of 13 people applied and the best thing was that not only one but two students from Liberty are now part of state office.  

“I was shocked but I was so happy because all my hard work had payed off,” Guffey said.

In HOSA’s future, they want to focus more on service aspect and do more community work instead of just fundraisers. They also want to get more people to join HOSA and to attend state because not only is it fun but it is also an incredible opportunity.