This year, two Wylie High School seniors, Betemariam Mesfin and Yara Ismail, serve as area and state officers for Texas HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America). Mesfin serves as the Area 3 Vice President, and Ismail serves as Area 3 President as well as State Reporter.
The process of getting elected to leadership positions began last year, with the officers officially getting elected to their positions in the spring of 2024. Recently, though, both students attended an officer training in San Antonio to prepare for this school year.
“The training that we had a few weeks ago was much, much, much more extensive and intensive, and they taught us all sorts of things with a huge emphasis on the compass model which is where you take in your members’ needs, wants, their emotions,” Ismail (12) said.
The main task of the area and state officer teams is to create and prepare for their fall and spring leadership conferences, which they mostly plan and organize themselves.
“One of the main things that it helps you prepare for is hosting those conferences and the other thing as well is the workload because at LDI, like I said, we have those 24 hours to present to the board of directors so if you’re able to stay and have really amazing teamwork during that stressful of a situation, you know you’re good, you’re set,” Mesfin said.
Not only did the training provide Mesfin and Ismail with preparedness for their positions, it taught them tools and lessons to take back to their own area and chapter.
“I really hope to find ways for HOSA, for our area’s Fall Leadership Conference and Spring Leadership Conference to have those games and have those icebreakers and those social events where members connect and network with one another because there’s so much you can learn from a speech, but there’s so much more you can earn from just connecting with other people,” Ismail said, “I really hope to bring hat also to our school chapter by figuring out ways we can incorporate networking and leadership games into our meetings.”
Area 3 is the largest area in Texas, having around 9,000 members, and has given them a unique opportunity to lead a large number of students and aid HOSA members not only at Wylie, but across Texas.
“The amount of people that have reached out to me about HOSA after getting that position, the amount of people that I’ve connected to–honestly, I can’t even imagine–I’ve talked to multiple people I’ve never talked to before and we’ve become good friends just on the basis of HOSA and helping them out,” Mesfin said.
They will continue to serve in their positions this school year, representing Wylie at the area, state, and even up to the national level.