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Rebekah

Shrek. Glass. Legos. Fireworks.
The items may seem like they have nothing to do with each other, but in the minds of Pines Charter’s Future Health Professionals, they are a means of survival. Like this year’s HOSA theme emphasizes, the students were given the opportunity to ‘dare to create’: they dared to create a living out of random resources, dared to create lasting relationships out of new experiences, and dared to create their future careers in healthcare.
Since the revival of Pines Charter’s HOSA-Future Health Professionals last year, the club seeked to expand their benefits to more and more students. Whereas other clubs hold induction ceremonies or initiation rituals for their newest members, the PPCHS chapter of the organization kicked the year off with their own HOSA Social. Held on the cool evening of September 29 at the Silver Lakes Community Park, the event welcomed newly accepted members with piles of food and teamwork activities that lasted until dark.
Despite the professionality of the HOSA organization, this year’s PPCHS officers wanted to show that membership is more than just competitions and lectures. Senior Amogh Baranwal, President of the club, explained his vision for the event: “We’re all future health professionals so it’s important that we all get to know each other, network… and build lifetime bonds.” With footballs tossed around and snacks shared around clusters of students, the HOSA members began taking steps towards camaraderie.
This idea of fun teamwork was amplified even more as soon as the crowd of 50 or so kids was split into five teams for a series of games.
Competing first in a round of Pin the Organ, the teams selected two of their members to blindly pin a pair of lungs and a heart in their respective positions in the human body. While some hit their spots straight on and others missed the board completely, what they didn’t realize was that they all just taught themselves an important skill in the medical field: accuracy. Senior Hana Bushra, this year’s Secretary of PPCHS HOSA, designed the game for this exact purpose. “Aside from the fun,” the senior expressed, “we wanted members to understand the importance of accuracy over time. Most players rushed to pin the organ in right away no matter where it landed. But some took time and concentrated on what their team members were instructing them to do, which allowed their organ to land in the right place.”
To follow the intense and adrenaline-filled game, the HOSA officers then sent the teams on their Organ Scavenger Hunt. With various clues leading to different parts of the body (made of paper boxes) scattered around the entire park, the students got their legs and brains up and moving. As the winners of the games were said to receive prizes, the groups had to find an efficient way to build their dummies. Junior and new inductee Diedra Pabon described that for her group, “no one really knew each other, [they] had to learn how to express [their] opinions and come up with a solution together.” Win or lose, the teamwork experience blossomed into friendships for many. “We [their team’s members] say hi to each other in the halls now, so it’s nice that I got to meet some sweet people,” Diedra says appreciatively.
While the first two activities had the HOSA members thinking on their feet, the last event, Creative Problem Solving, forced them to truly think like a future health professional.
A PPCHS spinoff of the real HOSA competitive event, the activity involved coming up with a solution as to how to survive on a deserted island with nothing but the list of items provided to them. At the same time, the teams were required to discuss the role of mental health in their solutions, a vital part of both survival and healthcare. The listed items ranged from seemingly useful to completely random, with objects such as a shard of glass, 1000 pieces of legos, fireworks that blow up to say “MARRY ME!”, and a life-size cut out of Shrek. Most teams responded to these items with their own jokes. As senior Jalyn Randle, a member of the winning team, expressed, “It was so exhilarating finding ways to survive on an island with unique resources we never knew could be so beneficial.”
As the PPCHS chapter of HOSA continues on their journey to the medical field and soon prepares for upcoming competitions, they plan to ‘dare to create’ wherever they go. “We’re daring to create the next batch of future health professionals who are going out to their fields, dominating it, they’re being the best at what they’re doing,” Amogh says declaratively. “At Pines Charter HOSA, we’re daring to create the next batch of superb health professionals.”