Ralston High School sophomores, Sydni Szczepanik and Taylor Skiles were excited to be presenting their poster on labor and delivery nurses at the State Leadership Conference for the Nebraska HOSA – Future Health Professionals organization held March 21-22 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The two were among 319 high school students from more than 20 high schools from across the state taking part in the two-day conference.
“It’s our first time at the state competition,” Skiles said looking around at the crowd of students. “There are a lot of good posters here.”
HOSA is a high school and post-secondary student organization for those who are interested in a career in health care. It is similar to Future Business Leaders of America, Future Farmers of America, or Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America. It is sanctioned by the Nebraska Department of Education. (HOSA used to stand for Health Occupations Students of America, but in 2004 the organization opted to change their name to HOSA: Future Health Professionals.)
During the conference students competed in events such as "Basic Life Support," "First Aid," "EMT," "Medical Photography" and "Flight Nursing.” A large number of students prepared poster presentations on a particular field of interest.
“HOSA is a great way to learn more about health professions,” Haylee Ceplecha said.
Ceplecha, a junior at Scottsbluff High School, wore navy blue scrubs along with 27 classmates to represent HOSA Scottsbluff during competitions.
She said the students also wear them when they volunteer at their local nursing home or at fundraisers, such as the annual Boxer 500, a charity run/walk to raise awareness and money for colon cancer research.
“It’s been a lot of fun, especially in getting to come to UNMC,” Ceplecha said.
Students who participated in HOSA are listed below in alphabetical order by school.
Bellevue East High School – Tori Blankenship, Molly Cloyd, Emma Hauenstein, Tayla Hessler, Karissa Jacobsen, Kelani Kennedy, Sandy Montoya, Christina Paulder, Jordan Roberts, Anna Walther, Missy Walther, Alex Welch, Lauren Williams
Benson High School – Nia Bounds, Jessica Clark, Juan Francisco, Abbigail Jackson, Tristanna Kripps, Mason Kroeger, Darien Leaden, Jessica Lewis, Brianna Raumaker
Bryan College of Health Sciences – Taylor Glesinger, Cheyenne Hallberg, Tessa Kingley, Nicholas Schuller
Columbus High School – Armando Adame, Evelyn Adame, Maddalynne Armstrong, Josselyn Ayala, Caitlyn Bartholomew, Alycin Braun, Mikala Brehm, Mynor Figueroa, Alec Flyr, Reagan Gausman, Paige Jeffryes, Madeline Luebe, Emily Pick, Jenni Pick, Catherine Veseth, Hannah Wiese, Taylor Wilke
Creighton High School – Shane Asher, Makayla Brockhaus, Claire Fanta, Katie Homan, Jordyn Kuhl, Kasey Kuhl, Sydney Walton, Bailey Zimmerer
Fremont High School – Sara Hancock, Yamilet Maldonado, Mariah Swanson, Hailey Trimble, Dawn Weinandt
Grand Island Senior High – Huraiya Adhora, Perla Alarcon, Melissa Cuellar, Theresa Jorgensen, Veronica Liban, Riham Mohammed, Kira Oberschulte, Jane Phillips
Kearney High School – Madison Beatty, Caleb Capellen, Jessica Fritson, Kathy Gifford, Mona Javidi, Jazymyn Miles, Fatima Paredes, Callie Stull, Elizabeth Thorn, Tanya Wasson
Lincoln HOSA – Monica Angeletti, Ranya Aribi, Mollie Bath, Kelsey Burianek, Kayla Carlson, David Crable, Rachel Crable, Allison Cruikshank, Vanessa Cruz-Alatriste, Kajal Desai, Lucas Dionisopoulos, Hannah Dolezal, Grace Doll, Ayla Duba, Cristal Franco-Granados, Ashley Fransisco, Laura Fransisco, Mekenna Fredrick, Elizabeth Gao, Maddie Green, Katie Hastings, Stella Hofer, Sora Hutchison, Batool Ibrahim, Heidi Isemann, Aleasha Jay, Aryana Kamelian, Marge Keep, Carter Knopik, Jared Ladd, Harinh Lee, Amy Li, Dallas Lim, Barrett Luci, Kalie Mansur, Patrick Miley, Shruti Mishra, Madi Muma, Sammie Munn, Annie Nguyen, Linh Nguyen, Thanh Nguyen, Qismat Niazi, Julia Niven, Shraddha Patel, Brooke Peck, John Pham, Hattie Phelps, Konpal Rafique, Supriya Reddy, Karyssa Richardson, Tessa Rien, Emerson Roberts, Lena Roilgen, Tanvi Santhosh, Emma Schwartz, Megan Snyder, Avery Soltys, Sydni Springer, Mary Stauffer, Riley Tompsett, Hanna Van Bibber, Meena Vasudevan, Emma Vertin, Alicia Vuong, Jennifer Wang, Novelyn Watson, Olivia Wells, Crystal Xu, Maci Zeiger
Midland University – Shelby Bonnemier, Jared Cassoutt, Claire DeCoster, Kenzie Emodi, Tess Ferris, Brooke Fleming, Andrew Hanthorn, Kristin Mackeprang, Jasye Morrison, Cameran Raszler, Brittany Shell, Alyssa Willcoxon
Millard North High School – Anamika Adhikary, Morgan Christian, Sanjana Darsipudi, Kelvin Hong, Aditi Jain, Steve Lerner, Isabelle Lu, Amy McWilliams, Emily Olsen, Kiersten Preuss, Rizwan Siddiqui, Nan Sricharoen, Christopher Tran, Jessica Walker
Millard South High School – London Adams, Henry Bills, Jeanine Dalmeida, Alexis Duermyer, Emily Philo, Jacquie Welch, Edward Yuan, Wenxian Zhou
Millard West High School – Saisha Adhikari, Emily Bremers, Megan Collins, Courtney Lombardo, Amy Mach, Natalie Matuella, Gabrielle McGinn, Rachel Packwood, Morgan Penry, Jessie Ripley, Krishti Sabloak, Elijah Schollmeyer, Rana Sharif
Omaha South High School – Maddie Badje, Allison Zett
Papillion-LaVista High School – Lauren Dominello, Kayla Farley, Ally Glaser, Julia Harker, Caitlyn Harrison, Ashley Reid, Emily Roberts, Eshu Senthill, Isabella Walker, Joseph Werner, Zach Wynn
Papillion-LaVista South High School – Hayley Fouche, Alysen Hansen, Anna Milton, Sam Shaner, Lea Sobrilsky, Hannah Storm
Ralston High School – Sitora Bobodzhanova, Adele Bourke, Monica Cervantes, Nikki Drosche, Allison Hernandez, Skylar Hughes, Miranda Johnston, Talya Jones, Katelyn Mass, Makayla Prchal, Taylor Skiles, Kayla Sorgen, Sydni Szczepanik, Ashley Turner, Claire Yager
Scottsbluff High School – Hannah Balandran, Brenda Banuelos, Baylee Bewley, Devin Buderus, Ashlee Carrillo, Haylee Ceplecha, Sarah Cloud, Makayla Comings, Mark Deleon, Ezekiel De Los Santos, Rachel French, Tessah Fulk, Myela Garcia, Reegan Green, Alex Gurrola,Alyssa Hernandez, Alisha Huynh, Allison Leever, Brianna Little, Adrianna Palomo, Mason Ramig, Licel Rodriguez, Dominique Salazar, Kayleigh Schwartz, Isabel Vasquez, Sara Vohland, Taylor Yarnell, Sharon Zhao
Southeast Community College – Jade Barber, Megan Beaner, Samatha Cobb, Amy Dietrich, Kelsey Oliver, Michele Saucier
Thayer Central High School – Brooklyn Hergott, Kylea Hintz, Kassie Kent, Madison Mumm
University of Nebraska Medical Center High School Alliance– Henry Anderson, Julissa Bakken, Sierra Brakhage, Autumn Breazile, Jordi Castelan, Diana Castillo, Shelby Cooper, Melanie Dryak, Annie Gentes, Brianne Hood, Brandon Keffer, Sydney Kirkpatrick, Savannah Meads, Sarah Kate Naber, Emily Petrick, Idania Ramirez-Henriquez, Clarice Santos, Fern Thaisetthawatku, Fernando Wisniewski-Pena, Aisha Zahid
Verdigre Public School – Hunter Kotrous, Megan Leasure, Brandi Ruzicka, Makayla Ruzicka, Isabella Schmidt, Savannah Wagner
Westside High School – Aya Abdulrazig, Isha Dhakal, Gabby Henderson, Neha LaRoda, Miya Leonard, Jordan Rhyner, Hailey Tierra, Gabi Wahl, Ethan Wolter
University of Nebraska-Lincoln – Estella Fox
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