It was about five years ago that 10 students from Manteca High’s Health Occupations Students of America chapter took part in a mock leadership competition at the Manteca Unified School District office complex.
The one-day event has mushroomed to some 400 students representing 10 area high schools.
They’re all scheduled to take part in the Feb. 9 Area Leadership Conference at the San Joaquin County Office of Education’s Wentworth Education Center.
This event will be hosted by the MUSD HOSA, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“The (leadership conference) has grown every year – but we’ve never had anything close to 400 students,” said HOSA advisor Cheryl Behler, who is also the district’s Career Technical Education in Health Careers Health Science coordinator.
The reason for the mock competition, Behler said, is to prepare students for the upcoming State Leadership Conference at the Anaheim Marriott beginning April 5.
As for the local competition, she credited Kathy Ruble, who is MUSD’s director of Careers Technical Education / Science Technology Engineering Mathematics, for her support of the Careers Technical Students-led Organization or CTSO.
For the exception of Weber Institute in Stockton – Skills USA Chapter 523 – most of the schools at the MUSD-hosted Area Leadership Conference are affiliated with HOSA.
Included are be.tech Charter High School (Health Careers), Kimball High, Manteca High, McNair High, Mountain House and Weston Ranch, to name a few.
The mock competition will consist of Bio Medical Lab, Career Health Display, CPR First Aid, extemporaneous poster, extemporaneous writing, HOSA bowl (debate competition), Job-seeking Medical, Medical Math, Medical Photography, Medical Terminology, Nursing Assistance Skills, Prepared Speech, and Research Prepared Speech.
Behler, who is an LVN, has been in charge of HOSA locally for the past 12 years.
For more information, call 209.858.7355.