Trinity offers many programs that help students explore and experiment with career paths before going to college. HOSA, or Health Occupations Students of America, is an international student organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education that is dedicated to promoting the healthcare industry to the younger generation. Because of HOSA, seniors like Maddy Tuttle and Bayleigh Lowe have found career paths they want to study in college.
Trinity High School is one of many schools that provide an HOSA club to students. HOSA is a student-run club that focuses on health sciences, networking, and connecting with people in the medical field.
Former HOSA president Tuttle says, “It’s exposed me more to health care. It drew me in, and I became more interested.”
After being a part of HOSA for four years, Tuttle is going to the University of Kentucky to study physical therapy. Her exposure to medicine classes here at Trinity helped her grow a curiosity for learning more about rehabilitation. She got introduced to this field by experiencing and going through physical therapy herself.
“I enjoyed the environment of physical therapy and the compassion to help others. It felt right for me,” Tuttle explains.
Tuttle is planning on going into neuro and pediatric rehab, a specialized form of physical therapy to help children with neurological or developmental conditions.
“From how many different medical careers we’ve been exposed to through HOSA, it makes it so much easier to find a perfect fit,” Tuttle adds.
Due to college prices being at an all-time high, it is a privilege to have the HOSA club at Trinity. It can give students the chance of early exposure to medical management so they don’t have to go into the health care field so blindly. Former HOSA vice president Lowe mentions, “HOSA offers field trip opportunities to college medical facilities; we once got the chance to shadow WVU medical students.”
Lowe is going to Pennsylvania State University for biomedical engineering, which is pursuing the study of design and development of prosthetics and rehabilitation for a career. She plans on working in this field to help give people without limbs a more comfortable life.
“I got introduced to this career on an engineering field trip I went on and got really interested in it,” Lowe mentions.
The field trip to which Lowe is referring is Westinghouse’s Introduce a Girl to Engineering event where high school females from the Pittsburgh area learn about possible careers in engineering. One of the slides that caught Lowe’s attention was on designing and creating prosthetic limbs.
HOSA is a perfect fit for any high schooler with a curiosity for studying medicine.
Trinity’s Sports Medicine and Sports Body movement teachers, Dr. Killen and Mr. Porterfield, have dedicated themselves to making sure students can explore medical pathways.
“Everyone has gotten so connected to the teachers as part of HOSA, and they were so helpful with steering all of us in the right direction; it made so many of us feel more assured about what we wanted to get into,” Lowe mentions. Much appreciation goes out to Dr. Killen and Mr. Porterfield for all the excellent guidance in helping their senior students, like Tuttle and Lowe, pursue their career paths.
