HOSA students make way to state

Darryl McWhorter does not like needles. In fact, the McKinney High School senior prefers to stay as far away from them as possible.

“I still run from the doctor,” McWhorter said. “My doctor got smart and locks the door.”

Despite his needle phobia, McWhorter has fared quite well as a member of Heath Occupancy Students of America (HOSA) for the past three years. The club gave him the opportunity to do basic lab procedures, which involve using needles.

“This has helped me get over it quite a bit,” McWhorter said.

McWhorter has done so well in HOSA that he took second place in the medical lab assisting category at the area HOSA competition on Feb. 22 and 23 in Irving.

Jordan Hicks, a McKinney High junior, said preparation for his first-place finish in the nutrition category was minimal since nutrition is an area he has an interest in.

A second year HOSA member, Hicks has learned a lot since joining HOSA and has enjoyed the experiences.

“The competitions are the best things and getting my CNA,” Hicks said.

The area competition was a good first competition for first-year HOSA member and McKinney High sophomore T.J. Pitcher. He placed fourth for the researched persuasive speaking on why the government should ban smoking in public.

“I thought the actual competition was a neat experience,” Pitcher said. “As for mine, it was something I felt comfortable with. I’m a good speaker and I don’t have a problem speaking in public.”

Other McKinney High students that placed in area were Tori Thornton, Jenin Salehand Adam Conrad.

McKinney North students also did well in the area HOSA competition. Mia Ward, a McKinney North junior and first year HOSA member, took second place in the dental terminology category.

“I was shocked because I didn’t think I was going to do that well,” Ward said.

For her part, Ward had to study up on dental terminology and take an online test with several questions for the competition. She said she didn’t find the test too difficult since she had plenty of time to prepare.

Victoria Parra, a McKinney North junior, finished in third place for public service announcement along with teammates Hannah Fowler, Brent Aguilar and Brooke Miller.

“Public service announcement, we had to choose a topic and we did diabetes,” Parra said. “We thought it was something not a lot of people take into consideration but it’s there.”

Aguilar, a senior and second-year HOSA student, said the most difficult part about making the PSA was getting in everything in a short time frame.

“We had to make the announcement into a 30-second time frame,” Aguilar said. “Editing it while writing a message people could understand was the most difficult part. With the time frame given, I think we did a good job getting the message out there.”

Though Miller, a second-year HOSA student and junior, was hoping for a first place, she was pleased with how the PSA turned out overall.

“I liked creating a video to get a point across and I thought it was an interesting way for diabetes,” Miller said.

Other students from McKinney North High that qualified for the state competition include

Stephanie Ponder, Morgan Henry, Gabby Jara, Sarah Birdsong, Molly Johnson, Monse Garzia, Ericka Clendening, Tyler Pugh, Alyssa Swank and Sabrina Hardcastle.

The students that placed in area will advance to the state competition which will take place April 10 to 12 in Austin.

Contact staff writer Stefanie White at swhite@acnpapers.com. To post comments online, access this story at www.scntx.com.

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