HOSA COMPETITIVE EVENTS 101

HOSA competitive events are a great way to challenge students and push them to learn and grow outside the classroom.  HOSA does a great job in providing a lot of information on the events so I thought it could be helpful to consolidate that information into one place.  

Because of the constant updating and changing of competitions, the contents of this download will also be revised often!  So, check back regularly for updates!

THIS DOWNLOAD COMES WITH THE FOLLOWING ITEMS: 

COMPETITIONS LIST (PDF)

HOSA has a LOT of great competitions for your students to choose from!  This is great for serving a wide-range of interests, but it can be a little overwhelming.  So, I created a list to act as a “quick reference” sheet.  All of the competitions are listed along with a brief explanation.  I also included a few descriptor icons to help distinguish between the types of competitions (one person vs group, written test, skills involved, presentation required etc.).  I also put in a column of health careers that might be associated with the competition.  This list is more for you to help understand each competition, but will also come in handy when your students are trying to decide on a competition.  You can more easily help students match with a competition based on preferences or future career goals. 

COMPETITIONS LIST (EXCEL)

This is just a simple listing of all the events color coded by category.  I thought this might come in handy for when you want to sign students up for events.  You can create your own columns and add any additional information you might need.  This uploads seamlessly to Google Drive as a Google Sheets form in case you want to keep it there.

INTRO TO HOSA COMPETITIONS (PPT or GOOGLE SLIDES)

I wanted to create a short presentation that just went over the basics.  It gives a very brief history and then an overview of the competitions, questions the students can begin thinking about for choosing a competition and the general process.  I know that every state runs competitions a little differently, so I tried to keep it pretty generic.  The presentation is just 7 slides and should only take 5-10 minutes to present and  provide just enough information for students to begin to understand what they are all about. 

MATCH ME (GOOGLE SLIDES- LINK BELOW)

HOSA has a great “How to Choose a Competition” flow chart on their website that I think is a great way for students to decide on an event.  So, I just took that idea and decided to expand on it a little.  I think the best way for students to decide on a competition is to be matched with their strengths and interest.   With that in mind, I went through the events and wrote down the characteristics and/or common subjects of them and compiled a list.  I took these and made a sort of “choose your own adventure” style presentation.

The first slide after the title slide gives them general instructions.  They are to basically go to the next slide and click on the phrase they feel BEST describes them.  These statements involve both interests as well as skills or talents they feel represent them.  Once they click on a statement, it may lead them directly to a competition, or they may need to answer another question.  It also may lead them to multiple competitions.  For instance, if they select “there is a specific career I am interested in learning more about” and then they select “nursing/direct patient care”, it will take them to a page with 5 competitions that match.  They can then decide which of those interest them the most.

Once they get to an actual competition, it will give a brief summary of the event.  They can read through the summary and decide if that sounds like something they would want to do.  The actual name of the competitions are in yellow/gold boxes with stars.  They can click on the box and it will lead them to the hosa website Guidelines page. 

COMPETITIONS RESEARCH GRAPHIC ORGANIZER (PDF)

Once your students have chosen their event, you can have them do a little research using the HOSA guidelines for their event.  I always encourage students to “read over the guidelines” but I’m not sure they always do it very well!  This sort of forces them to look over the competition and become familiar with how it works.

You have two options: one is a generic worksheet and the other is specific to the event.  The generic one can be used for any of the events and might be easier than printing out the specific forms.  I knew making individual worksheets for each competition would take me a considerable amount of time, but I felt like it could be very helpful.  The PDF titled “Competition Research Graphic Organizer ALL” has all of the competitions in order like it is on the HOSA website.  I did not include the Recognition events.  These are quite a bit different so I chose to leave them out.  However, you can use the “generic” version for these if you choose.

If you need any additional information about the content of this unit, please do not hesitate to reach out!

Note: This is for secondary competitions only.  Middle school events are NOT included.