Students Ready for Spring Leadership Conference in Syracuse

The HOSA conference will feature 32 different competitions

The Center for Career Services will send a contingent of 21 students studying healthcare-related fields to Syracuse for the 2025 HOSA Spring Leadership Conference from April 2-4 at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel. The students, who are members of the school’s two HOSA chapters, will participate in several competitions as part of the conference.

HOSA, a global, student-led organization, which stands for Health Occupations Students of America, seeks to empower future health professionals to become leaders in the health community.

“This is a way for us to showcase everything we know,” said Jahani Valverde, a senior from Pelham who serves as the president of her HOSA chapter. “It’s not just about winning medals at the conference. Being a member of HOSA looks good on college applications, and it looks good on job applications if you competed in HOSA because a lot of people in the healthcare fields will know what HOSA is.”

Last year’s competitions had a positive impact on the students who are returning this year. Paola Gonzalez, a senior from New Rochelle and chapter Vice President, teamed with Jocelyn Lopez of Port Chester to earn a gold medal in the Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation First Aid team event.

“HOSA has definitely has made me into a much more confident person with my skills,” Gonzalez said. “Before last year, going in, I thought I had no chance to win. I worked hard and won first place. That made me feel like I was on top of the world. This year, I’m going in feeling so much more confident. I think HOSA really helped me feel like I can do it. It pushed me.”

This year’s participants include of students from Emergency Medical Services, which is taught by Robert Del Greco, and Animal Science, a program taught by Michael D’Abruzzo. Mr. Del Greco pointed to the experience CCS students have when asked to demonstrate their skills in real-life scenarios.

For example, during the Emergency Medical Technicians team event, the competitors are given information about a patient and have to make an accurate medical assessment based on that knowledge and their own observations. They face these identical situations as members of the EMS program.

“It’s one thing to be able to take a test or listen to a lesson in the classroom,” Mr. Del Greco said. “It’s another thing to do it during a competition and do it better than some of your peers. That gives our students a lot of confidence because they already have these skills.”

The HOSA Spring Leadership Conference will include 32 different competitions, with Mr. Del Greco serving as Co-Chairperson of Competitive Events. Student at the Center for Career Services are eager to hone their leadership and competitive skills, but also to perhaps qualify for HOSA’s International Leadership Conference, which runs from June 18-21 in Nashville.

Last year, by virtue of their gold medal, Gonzalez and Lopez advanced to the event, which was then held in Houston.

“We’re trying to get to Nashville,” Gonzalez said.