Be The Match welcomes fourteen HOSA students from five lucky chapters in early December.

In late November, Be The Match held a drawing for all HOSA chapters registered with a Be The Match page. Five lucky chapters were drawn and each was invited to send students to Minneapolis! On Thursday, December 8th, fourteen HOSA students from the following chapters traveled to Minneapolis:

  • Fayette County, AL
  • Auburndale, WI
  • Fountain Fort Carson, CO
  • Ronald Reagan HS, San Antonio, TX
  • PB Gardens, FL

The students and their chaperones had a jam-packed schedule both Thursday and Friday and traveled home on Saturday. On Thursday, students visited our Be The Match Biorepository and were able to witness science in action – learning about the life-saving process of adding people to the registry all the way to facilitating the collection of the stem cell products. Following the tour, students toured the Be The Match headquarters and were welcomed by two Be The Match Executive Leaders, Joy King, Chief Advancement Officer, and Erica Jensen, Senior VP of Member Engagement, Enrollment and Experience. During dinner students heard from Taylor Brown, Be The Match Case Manager and bone marrow transplant recipient. Taylor was gracious enough to share her story and take questions from students and chaperones.

On Friday, the entire group headed to the Mall of America for “Dress for Success” sessions with Macy’s personal shoppers. Each student was given $150 to spend at Macy’s and wristbands to enjoy Nickelodeon Universe (the amusement park in the center of the mall). Students and chaperones grabbed their Macy’s shopping bags and headed out for a day of fun at the Mall of America!

It was such an honor to host HOSA students at Be The Match headquarters. Our hope is that with each visit more HOSA students leave with an even greater understanding of our life-saving mission.

“Thank you again for allowing our students at FCHS to participate in the trip to Minneapolis! The students are so excited about Be The Match and are so grateful for the opportunity to tour the biorepository. They are more motivated than ever to fundraise and add to the registry.” – Susan Ingle, advisor of Fayette County, AL Hosa chapter.