NEWS

ACTE’s CTE Month® 2017 Video Public Service Announcement (PSA) Contest is open! This contest offers CTE students the chance to create videos that inform viewers of the value of career and technical education while simultaneously showcasing the great work students are doing in their own schools. This year’s video will make use of the CTE Month 2017 tagline, “Celebrate Today, Own Tomorrow!”

HOSA invites all State Officers and Local Chapter Leaders to join us in Washington, D.C. for the 10th Annual Washington Leadership Academy (WLA). WLA features dynamic workshops and interactive activities to teach HOSA leaders to be better advocates of HOSA’s mission and vision.  This action-packed experience is the highest level of leadership development for HOSA-Future Health Professionals.  Learn more at hosa.org/WLA.

Congratulations to CAPT Rob Tossatto, USPHS, for receving the Commissioned Officers Association of the USPHS Health Leader of the Year Award.  Captain Tosatto is the Director of the Medical Reserve Corps, a member of the HOSA-100 National Advisory Council and longtime supporter of HOSA.  The COA Health Leader of the Year Award was established in 1987 to recognize individuals who have made notable contributions to the health of the Nation.  Contributions can be in research, administration, service delivery, or some other area of public health.

Some people love standardized tests. Their scale is impressive – everyone who takes a particular test is scaled against everyone else. This allows schools and employers to see at a glance how you’ve performed on these often content-based, but even more often critical thinking-based, assessments. Other people hate them, saying that they are the epitome of a system that over-tests and results in students who know how to regurgitate information but not how to apply it in day-to-day life or in a future career.

HOSA—Future Health Professionals is pleased to announce the 2016 Public Health Leadership Seminar participants.  The week-long seminar is hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) with support from the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General (OSG) and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS).  

This past Friday, I completed a milestone – perhaps the milestone – in my slow, steady march toward medical school. Although I know that acceptance into a school is merely the start of an even longer journey than the one that I embarked on in 2012 when I entered NYU, I can’t help but see it as a kind of finish line. Maybe it’s a self-defense mechanism as I attempt to comprehend that my collegiate life is still less than half over. In any case, I’m nearly there.
 

Two outstanding HOSA chapters will be recognized for MRC Youth Engagement Awards this month. The MRC Youth Engagement Award honors MRC units that have successfully promoted the utilization of youth in their local mission. They also provided young people with opportunities to participate in public health, preparedness, or response activities.

During this post I’ll attempt to convince you of something that you probably won’t believe. That is: I actually enjoy studying. I know that sounds improbable, but if you hear me out I’ll try to explain. Some people actually enjoy studying on its own. A far greater number of people (at least in my opinion and including myself) like the idea of studying, but find the actual practice of it to be more of a chore than a joy. Knowledge is a powerful thing, and it says a lot that so many of us would like to think of ourselves as master scholars.