Questar III LPN HOSA Team: 1st row L-R: Trisha First, Heidi Faulkner, Erika Slemp, Cindy Paterson, Amber Wade (Hudson HS), Teacher Donna Bellemare 2nd row: Sarah Walsh Flagler, Samantha Slemp (Chatham HS), Christine Couitt, Ainsley Evans, Mark Basso
Students from Questar III’s Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) program, based at Hudson High School, excelled at the 34th Annual Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) National Competition. Six students traveled to Anaheim, CA to compete and five finished in the top ten nationally.
Below is a listing of winners from
Questar III:
- Trisha First – Prepared Speaking 1st place
- Erika Slemp – Human Growth and Development 2nd place
- Sarah Flagler – Pharmacology 3rd place
- Christine Couitt – Pathophysiology 6th place
- Cynthia Fern Paterson – Medical Terminology 6th place
Ainsley Evans also competed in the Medical Terminology contest.
Teacher Donna Bellemare said she is proud of her students. “In my fifth year at this competition, this was the most phenomenal demonstration of our students’ education we’ve ever had,” Bellemare noted. “Never before have so many of our students competed in nationals, including against college students, and they won, performing above and beyond expectations.”
HOSA is a national student organization whose mission is to promote career opportunities in health care and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people.
“HOSA is also a leading voice for the next generation of healthcare,” she added. “Our nurses take great pride in their profession and are eager to serve the needs of their patients.”
Trisha First, who won first prize in Prepared Speaking, moved judges and those in attendance to tears with an unwritten speech about her past. As she explained, “It was about my experience with a little girl with a fatal disease that my family cared deeply about. One day when I was 19 and she was eight, I brought her to get ice cream in my red Jeep. Two days later she died but just before she passed, she told my mother that the day she rode with me to get ice cream was the happiest day of her life.”
“Hearing that changed my life forever,” First said. “I realized I wanted to make a difference in the world by helping people. That’s why I became a nurse.”
First call HOSA one of the best experiences of her life.
“I worked so hard and had to make sacrifices like leaving my two little girls for seven days to go there, but I won first place so it was truly worth it…and my children were able to watch me win live on the HOSA website. They’re still talking about it,” she said.
Placing third in Pharmacology, Sarah Flagler credited Questar III’s LPN program with preparing her for her new career. “You work hard, but in 10 months you’re a nurse, and now I can work in the health field while studying to become an RN at Columbia-Greene Community College.”
Cindy Paterson, who placed sixth in the Medical Terminology contest, said she was a work at home mom, but with her youngest entering college she wanted to become a nurse. “I like to be needed,” Paterson said. As for the contest, Paterson said, “I was pleased with myself but my most memorable moment was when Trisha nailed her speech. I was so happy for her.”
Students advanced to nationals after earning top honors at the at the New York State HOSA competition in Syracuse.
Heather Lansing, principal of the Columbia-Greene Educational Center, said students were ready to compete. “The instruction in the Questar III LPN program really prepared our students to be knowledgeable in their subject area and to conduct themselves professionally.”
In addition to competitive events, HOSA provided more than 24 educational symposiums to further classroom education for both HOSA members and advisors and to serve as tools to learn about real world issues from healthcare professionals.
Questar III’s LPN program provides the hours of classroom theory and clinical experience required to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN). Students learn and plan the implementation of quality nursing care for patients.
