'Captain Crunch,' others, to lead high school HOSA
T.J. Jarret was inducted as the Columbia Falls High School HOSA Student Body Representative last week.
Kelton Thomas was inducted as the Columbia Falls High School HOSA Sergeant at Arms last week.
Bradley Darling was inducted as the Columbia Falls High School HOSA Parliamentarian last week.
Savvy Ellis was inducted as the Columbia Falls High School HOSA Treasurer last week.
Chentelle Bodily was inducted as the Columbia Falls High School HOSA Secretary last week.
Stella Bistodeau was inducted as the Columbia Falls High School HOSA Vice President last week.
Mailee Windauer was inducted as the Columbia Falls High School HOSA President last week.
Eight Columbia Falls High School students were honored last week as they were inducted as officers in the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA).
In a light-hearted ceremony conducted by Columbia Falls HOSA Co-Advisors Troy Bowman and Cathy Dragonfly, the students were presented with breakfast cereals that best described what their various duties would be as HOSA officers.
President Mailee Windauer received a box of Captain Crunch as “A daily dose of leadership that will build captain-like qualities, patience and energy.”
Vice President Stella Bistodeau was presented a box of Honey Smacks as she was told that she would need to hand out “honey and smacks” to get members to serve on committees.
Secretary Chantelle Bodily received a box of Kookies, so that keeping minutes would not make her “kookie.”
A box of Trix was given to Treasurer Savvy Ellis, who was told she would need to “pull some trix out of her head” to help finance the chapter.
Parliamentarian Bradley Darling was given a box of Fruit Loops, because he would need to find a few “loopholes” in order to help carry out correct parliamentary law.
Sergeant-at-Arms Kelton Thomas was given Wheaties to help give him “strength and endurance” to keep meetings in order.
Student Body Representative T.J. Jarret was given a box of Chex to help her as she “chex” in with student council and HOSA members.
Reporter and Historian Kailey Schrader was unable to attend the ceremony.
The Columbia Falls chapter of HOSA was established in 2010 and has helped numerous student prepare for careers in the fields of health and medicine. Each year, HOSA members compete in a state conference with the hope of advancing to the national Spring Leadership Conference (SLC). Columbia Falls has sent representatives to the SLC in nearly every year of the program’s existence.
“The students pick what they want to compete in and then we help them find a mentor, somebody from that field that can help them. They learn about their event so they can compete in either the skill or written event, or both. One of the most popular events is the HOSA bowl. It’s like Jeopardy. So much so, that sometimes the kids answer in the form of a question when they get wrapped up in it,” according to Dragonfly.
With help from North Valley Hospital, the Columbia Falls HOSA program hopes to continue preparing the future healthcare professionals in this community.
“This is a program that helps students get in touch with like-minded students from around the state. It gets them in touch with their peers that will be entering the workplace at the same time they are that will be facing the same challenges,” Dragonfly said. “It helps our students form a connection with the medical field. It helps connect them with people in the medical field that can answer their questions. When students are looking to go into health careers, it is very competitive, and HOSA gives students a leg up on their competition.”