A team of students from Gainesville High School’s Academy of Health Professions (AHP) has earned the right to compete in the statewide Health Occupation Students of American (HOSA) competition later this spring.

Twenty-six AHP students recently competed in the regional HOSA contest, and all qualified for the statewide event, which will be held in Orlando in April. GHS was the only school to qualify every student who participated in the regional event.

Nine students took first place awards in the competition in such categories as creative problem solving, medical terminology and medical photography. Some of those categories involved individual competition, others were team efforts. The GHS team also brought home six second-place awards.

AHP director Janine Plavac says a lot of hard work and preparation made the team’s success in the regional competition possible. The students spent a lot of time studying medical terminology, practicing health-related skills, developing their problem-solving abilities and in other ways preparing for the event. Plavac says they worked individually and as a team, quizzing each other on event topics so that everyone would be ready.

“It taught them to work as a team and to develop their leadership abilities,” said Plavac. “They also had to learn to plan their time wisely so they could finish their projects on time.”

The GHS students earning first place awards were Aina Bargas, Jessica Woody, Barbie Diaz, Kaitlyn Kirkpatrick, Demetria Cass, Latera Davis, Sari Davis, Noah Hastay and Rodrick Thompson

“The kids were so supportive of each other as their names were called,” said Plavac. “When they realized their entire group all won some events, they were ecstatic.”