Pioneer High School students place in Nevada HOSA competition

Pioneer High School’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) team in Health Sciences and Health Information Management (HIM) has returned from the Nevada HOSA State Leadership Conference with a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

These State Leadership Conferences allow students to showcase their hard work, dedication, and expanding professional skill sets.

Pioneer High School began a Health Science program three years ago and it has blossomed. Each year, Pioneer Health Science students have not only improved, but helped expand the program scope.

Pioneer’s Health Science CTE program now includes not only foundational Health Sciences, but HIM as well.

The Carson City School District offers many CTE options for students at both high schools and it’s part of the district’s strategic plan to support such meaningful programs.

We were pleased to get this program up and running at Pioneer as our students have constantly pursued health related careers after graduation.

In preparing for this year’s State Leadership Conference, students in Health Science I experienced their first conference and competed in BLS/CPR and First Aid, as well as Extemporaneous Writing.

Along with their events, Health Science I students engaged in Courtesy Core, attended symposiums and exhibited outstanding leadership and professional qualities.

Pioneer’s returning second and third year CTE program students, competing in Medical Assisting, mastered patient interaction foundations such as height and weight, eye exams, and sterile gloving.

Additionally, these young professionals demonstrated more sophisticated skill sets such as obtaining and processing of patient health records, patient charting, along with more clinical skills such as routine urinalysis and physical exam preparation.

Health Information Management students seized the opportunity to showcase their talents competing in Medical Assisting. This included a gold medal for Alexandria Sorenson and a silver medal for Julia Albiter.

All HIM students showed tremendous professionalism by helping other competitors when preparing for the competition, providing leadership and direction to Pioneer’s first-year students, and interacting and coordinating with HOSA leadership.

This year’s State Leadership Conference success, along with the professional placement of recent alum, are encouraging indicators of Pioneer’s Health Science/HIM program potential.

Don Bland is a CTE and science educator at Pioneer High School.