2024 Arkansas HOSA State Leadership Conference

Arkansas HOSA State Leadership Conference:

Each year Arkansas HOSA - Future Health Professionals hosts a State Leadership Conference in the spring for members. The 2023 State Leadership Conference, which was held over two days in March of 2023, was attended by over 1,000 members who met at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

The conference gives student members who have become involved in HOSA the opportunity to further develop and build leadership skills, acquire health care related competencies through competitive events, and gain networking opportunities with students across the state who share similar interests and goals.

The Arkansas HOSA State Leadership Conference also features industry partners as exhibitors and competition judges, giving them the opportunity to interact with the largest gathering of future health professionals in the state.

In 2023, 51 Competitive Events were featured, with each member allowed to compete in one event.  The Competitive Events Program is designed to motivate HOSA members and provide a system for recognizing the competencies developed by members through Health Science and Biomedical Science class instruction, related job training, and HOSA related activities. 

Competitive events motivate HOSA members to improve their knowledge and skills.  HOSA provides an international competitive events program as a means of recognizing students who are willing to pursue excellence by preparing for competition and having the determination to attend a conference and participate in a competitive event. 

The top three competitors in each event are awarded a medal and are eligible to compete at the HOSA International Leadership Conference (ILC).  

In 2023, 138 Arkansas HOSA members attended the ILC in Dallas, TX, where over 11,000 HOSA members competed in over 80 competitions.

While in Dallas, 14 Arkansas HOSA members earned finalists recognition, which is a tremendous accomplishment to to finish in the top ten of a competition that may have 150 or more competitors.

• 2 students won Silver Medals
• Marlies Dolan, Haas Hall Academy Rogers, Life Threatening Situations – Middle School, Silver Meda
• Abhinandana Saravanan, Bentonville West, Research Poster, Silver Medal