Health Career Students Win Seven Medals at Nationals

July 10, 2018 - 12:07 AM

Mt. San Antonio College health careers students won seven medals at the Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) national competition. More than 9,000 secondary and post-secondary students competed in 57 different health-related events at the national leadership event held June 26-30 in Dallas, Texas.

 Derek Hawkins (Pomona), Sho Kitada (Rowland Heights), and Griselda Venezian (Chino Hills) won silver medals in the biomedical debate competition. Hector Alvarado (Montclair), Ezra Dureault (Pomona), Hector Herrera (La Puente), and Robert Solis (City of Industry) won bronze medals in the creative problem solving competition.

“The majority of the teams that they competed against were from universities around world, and amazingly, they surpassed the university competitors,” said Mt. SAC psychiatric technician professor and HOSA advisor Mary Ellen Reyes.

HOSA, established in 1976 by the U.S. Department of Education, is the national organization for secondary and post-secondary health career students. The organization provides students in 40 states with skills, leadership development, and career development.