Jupiter High’s Health Occupations Students of America organization participated in a scaled-down version of their annual leadership conference on March 26.

The conference is usually held in Orlando for five days with thousands of other HOSA students, but due to COVID-19 safety precautions, they held a smaller event on campus. 

In addition to interacting with guest speakers, HOSA students participated in a masked singer event, a water-balloon toss, bingo and other competitive and team-building activities. 

Kristen Jenkins, HOSA sponsor and Medical Academy teacher, organized the event for Jupiter High students. 

Jackson Beecher, a Medical Academy senior in HOSA, is president of the state association and has been a member of HOSA since his freshman year. 

“I thought it was awesome, and it was a lot less stress than going to Orlando for an entire week,” Beecher said. 

Beecher described how the Orlando conference offered opportunities to meet a lot of other students, but he was thankful Jenkins was able to plan a fun day to make it seem like they were actually there. 

“Since our class is smaller, we wanted to make our chapter a little bigger,” Beecher said. “Mrs. Jenkins took care of everything and it is a lot to put these things together.”

Beecher enjoyed the competitive and community feel of the on-campus event and was grateful he could participate in a HOSA event during a pandemic. 

“By doing games and giving food, it made people want to participate and shows people that you can still enjoy a club and community through Covid,” Beecher said

Ashley Mcallum is a senior competitor in the HOSA physical therapy area who has been on HOSA since her freshman year. 

“Listening to the guest speakers was my favorite part because it is more personable, and we were able to ask them specific questions,” Mcallum said. “They had so much time to talk with us.”

Mcallum explained how the conference was different than previous years, but she was thankful Jenkins could plan it in a challenging school year. 

“It is different when you are able to go to states in Orlando and have the whole day free and meet other people from different schools and be able to talk to them,” Mcallum said. ”Mrs. Jenkins did a really good job and I really appreciate her doing all of that work because it was so fun.”