The members of the THS HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) club—also known as Future Health Professionals Club—have been hard at work this year and recently attended the State Leadership Conference in Spokane to compete and attend workshops. This conference is a big deal with thousands attending and the main event for all of Washington’s HOSA chapters.
Ten people from the THS HOSA club attended with seven competing.
The journey started on March 2nd, 2026 with a ~6.5 hour bus ride all the way to the Spokane Convention Center. This ride was accompanied with stunning views of the mountainous Eastern Washington and a stop for lunch at a Subway near Moses Lake. I personally found the absence of trees during the 2nd half of the trip fascinating.
After a group trip to Chipotle, the opening ceremony began. The opening ceremony featured state officers from each region speaking and recognizing HOSA chapters across the state. Gabriel Cabasug was my favorite state officer and was re-elected this year for another term.
All of the workshops and competitions took place during the second day, Tuesday, March 3rd. It was a LOT of walking in really formal shoes. I made the unwise decision to sign up for as many workshops as I could. I made the ~15 minute walk to the WSU Spokane campus FOUR times. This was not fun. Next year, I plan on only doing workshops that I actually want to do.
Because the 2nd day was the only non-travel day, Tumwater HOSA members took part in many fun activities, workshops and competitions.
Two Tumwater HOSA members placed in their competitive events. Sidhanna Campbell placed 2nd in Medical Reading and Lorenzo Larios placed 2nd in Clinical Laboratory Science. Even getting to compete at state for HOSA is a difficult feat that requires a lot of studying! The competitive events winners can be seen on this PDF.
When asked about the trip, HOSA member Siddhana Campbell said, “I think SLC this year was really fun and we more than tripled our attendance.”
Isabella Martin echoed her statement, “I think it was really fun to see our club together and collaborate and I hope everybody comes next year.”
When asked what her favorite part was, Sid said, “My favorite part of SLC was coming together as a team, competing in events, and going to workshops.”
Isabella said, “My favorite part was going to my first event.”
On Wednesday, we woke up early to pack and go to the bus. We decided to skip the Closing Ceremony because it tends to drag on.
During the bus ride, it was raining quite a lot and it leaked into some places of the bus. We stopped at a Jersey Mike’s for lunch and returned to THS shortly after school ended.
Getting to compete and travel to Spokane was an amazing experience and I hope even more people will come with us next year. Hopefully, I’m not the only guy again.
