As one of our main goals of this site is to spread awareness of the programs available to high school students in forensics, we wanted to make sure HOSA was a big part of our mission. The following will explain what HOSA is, its mission, how it has impacted us, and how to get involved yourself, particularly if your school doesn’t already have a HOSA chapter.
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     HOSA - Future Health Professionals formerly stood for Health Occupation Students of America until the organization became international. It is a career and technical (CTE) student organization endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education and the Health Science Technology Education Division of ACTE. HOSA is a competition-based club in which middle schools, high schools, and colleges, can have their own individual chapters. There is then the regional level, state level, and international level of the organization. The competitions consist of everything from prepared speaking, veterinary sciences, epidemiology, applied health informatics, nursing assisting, forensics of course, and so many more! You not only compete in your chosen category but attend workshops, conferences, networking, and other fun events throughout the year.
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     HOSA’s mission “is to empower HOSA-Future Health Professionals to become leaders in the global health community through education, collaboration, and experience.” HOSA’s purpose “is to develop leadership and technical HOSA skill competencies through a program of motivation, awareness, and recognition, which is an integral part of the Health Science Education instructional program.”
     
     For forensics specifically, HOSA is the only opportunity of its kind, which allows high school students to have a hands-on approach to solving a practice crime scene. Of course, forensics classes or related programs may set up crime scenes as a teaching experience, but HOSA allows you to experience forensics on a different level and is much more accessible for students without those classes. For us, HOSA forensics has not only given us a fun opportunity, especially attending conferences but allowed Anna to solidify her interest in a future in forensics!

In order to have a HOSA Chapter, a program must meet the following requirements:

​1. CTE Program Requirement

          -Middle School - Must feed into a high school that has a Health Science CTE Program, and must be sponsored by a local high school HOSA chapter. ​
          -Secondary (High School) - Must have an approved Health Science CTE Program.
          -Post-Secondary/Collegiate - Must have a health science pathway or major.

2. The program has at least 5 HOSA members and 1 advisor (teacher)

3. The chapter must be approved by the school administration

     Generally, as long as you have a staff member willing to be your advisor and meet the above requirements, you can start your own HOSA chapter at your school. Simply visit the website and have your advisor fill out the form. It is so important, not just for the sake of forensics, but with a projected doctor shortage of 120,000 providers by 2030, that HOSA gets implemented in as many places as possible, helping bridge the gaps. Even if you start super small, a HOSA chapter in your school not only gives you all of the opportunities HOSA has to offer but opens the doors for future students at your school.