Nine student delegates from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo received top honors at the 14th Annual Hawaiʻi HOSA – Future Health Professionals State Leadership Conference held February 26-27 on O`ahu.
In the team category of Public Service Announcement (PSA), Shayne Cabudol (sophomore), Dean Jason Castro (senior), Rhodney Hernando (sophomore), Christian Lopez (freshman), and Travis Taylor (sophomore) captured first with their 30-second PSA video on “Be the First… Tobacco-Free Generation!” promoting awareness about tobacco addiction and becoming tobacco-free.
In the Individual competition, sophomore Daniel Kimura received gold in Medical Terminology and junior Kateleen Caye Bio placed first in Pharmacology. Bio ends her six-year streak in competing as an undergraduate and will move forward in HOSA's alumni division as a student with UH Hilo’s Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy.
The UH Hilo chapter also received top three honors as the most significant postsecondary collegiate HOSA chapter in the state of Hawaiʻi.
The UH Hilo HOSA team moves on to the International Leadership Conference, scheduled for June 19-22 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida.
HOSA-Future Health Professionals is an international organization with more than 175,000 members and 2.4 million alumni. HOSA was established in Hawaiʻi in 2005 and has grown to more than 1,300 members.