News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Alpena High School students (from left to right) Macie Nunnley, Olivia Goodrich, Hanna Hood, Ezrah Williams, Madi Mewer, and Izzy Edmonds pose for a photo on Friday. As students in Jennie Spomer’s Healthcare Occupations class, the students volunteered to compete against 890 students in the Michigan Health Occupation Students of America Region 7 Leadership Conference held at Saginaw Valley State University on Dec. 8.

ALPENA — Several Alpena High School students from the Healthcare Occupations class won medals from the Health Occupation Students of America Region 7 Leadership Conference on Dec. 8.

“It was fun but very stressful,” said Alpena High School student Olivia Goodrich about the competition.

According to Jennie Spomer, the Healthcare Occupations class teacher, the HOSA Regional Leadership Conference is a competition that her class competes in every year, along with other students from all over Michigan, in various competitions to test their knowledge in a variety of careers in the healthcare field.

“The competition kind of gives students an introduction to different things that workers in the healthcare field do,” said Spomer. “There’s medical math or pharmacy, as well as physical therapy.”

Spomer claims that this competition saw 890 students compete in 39 different subjects based on different career options or skills in the healthcare space. The subjects ranged from dental terminology to clinical laboratory science and the competitions ranged from completing a test in a set amount of time to giving a presentation.

Alpena High School students Macie Nunnley, Olivia Goodrich, Hanna Hood, Ezrah Williams, Madi Mewer, and Izzy Edmonds volunteered to compete in the competition, and for two months, prepared for the competition.

“We had to present to a school in Alpena before we took our presentation to HOSA,” said Williams.

“For my event, it was more like a test,” said Hood. “So I had to study beforehand.”

The girls performed well with Nunnley, Williams, Edmonds, and Goodrich placing third in the Health Education competition and Hood placing second in the epidemiology section.

Those who competed are now preparing for the state competition taking place in April, where they will compete for an opportunity to represent Michigan in the International State Conference.