On 1 to 2 March, seventy Marc Garneau students competed in the 2017 HOSA Canada Spring Leadership Conference for Garneau’s second time at the Metro Convention Centre. HOSA stands for Healthcare Occupations Students of America, and the organization’s mission is to promote careers in the health sciences to high school students. Over two thousand five hundred students from across Canada took part in the competition and the top three competitors for each subject qualified for the 2017 International Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Several MGCI competitors have qualified for ILC. Photo: Justin Ye

MGCI students participated in a variety of events, arranged in categories of Knowledge Tests, Health Professions, Teamwork or Leadership. From Creative Problem Solving to Medical Law and Ethics, students were given a choice of more than forty-five unique health-sciences related events. To succeed, they had to demonstrate written, oral, or procedural skills in their respective subjects. Written tests were composed of up to 100 questions and students were given less than ninety minutes to complete them. Oral tests included presenting ideas and research, while procedural assessments involved skills that were unique to each event.

HOSA MGCI’s chapter doubled in numbers. Photo: Justin Ye

The event as a whole faced challenges such as a delayed closing ceremony and a lack of writing spots for some exam-writing rooms. The regional officers recognized the issues with organization and plan to improve them for next year.

“Today’s performance for everyone was absolutely great,” said Paul Oh, the president of MGCI’s HOSA chapter. “Everyone showed up in time for their events and all the equipment was prepared.”

Last year, fewer than thirty people were in MGCI HOSA and it has since doubled in size. Similarly, membership for HOSA Canada doubled in size over the past year as well. When asked about the event, Grade 9 student Alex Guo said, “It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot about medicine and my passion for the field grew.”

The Reckoner recognizes the amazing achievements by the following students at the 2017 Spring Leadership Conference:

Harry Zhao: 1st place, Knowledge Test – Transcultural Healthcare

Molly Yu: 2nd place, Knowledge Test – Human Growth and Development

Khari Thomas: 2nd place, Knowledge Test – Medical Law and Ethics

Josephine Davey-Young, Alex Guo: 1st place – CERT Skills

Matthew Martin, Daniel Jin, Frank Hong, Janet Cheng: 1st place, Medical Innovation

Ryan Li: 3rd place, Epidemiology

Grace Xiong: 1st place, Sports Medicine

Harry Zhao, Molly Yu, Khari Thomas, Josephine Davey-Young, Alex Guo, Matthew Martin, Daniel Jin, Frank Hong, Janet Cheng, Ryan Li, and Grace Xiong have qualified for the 2017 International Leadership Conference. Those who decide to participate in the international competition will join thousands of students from across the world in Orlando from 21 to 24 June.