SHA-Cordecho-Fall-2022

6 C O R D E C H O S P I R I T . M I N D . B O D Y . elechi “Kele” Ezenwa ’23 is many things: talented piano player, skilled tennis player, bright student, aspiring psychiatrist. And now, Kele is the president of the New York State chapter of HOSA-Future Health Professionals. “Kele is a natural leader,” Mrs. ModicaAmore, moderator of SHA’s HOSA chapter, reflects. “She is a do-er, she doesn’t make excuses. She finds opportunities, implements them and gets things done.” Perhaps the clearest example of Kele’s demonstration of these qualities is her role in bringing HOSA to SHA. It was in the early days of the COVID lockdown that Kele found herself scrolling through YouTube. She stumbled upon an ad for HOSA, or Health Occupations Students of America, a student-led organization that encourages its members to become leaders in the global health community through education, collaboration and experience. Given her interest in the medical field, Kele was immediately captivated. She spent the rest of the day researching HOSA and what it offered to students like her. She shared her findings with her friend Olivia Ehimare ‘22, and together they decided HOSA would be a perfect fit at SHA. “We have a lot of science clubs, but nothing pointed directly to healthcare. I knew there were a lot of students interested in health professions, and I thought HOSA would be a great way to gather us all together and support each other.” Kele approached Mrs. ModicaAmore to be the moderator, and as Mrs. ModicaAmore remembered, Kele did so in what is a typical Kele way, “If you’ll moderate the club, I’ll run it!” Thus, HOSA was launched at SHA. The first year, Kele ran the club; she found speakers, formulated questions, and organized service opportunities. After a year of getting the club established, Kele wanted to take HOSA to the next level and enter into the competitions. Every spring each state chapter of HOSA hosts a competitiondriven contest in which students are tested on their medical knowledge and skills in a variety of fields: nursing, surgery, dentistry, pharmacy, etc. The competition was held virtually in April 2022, and two of SHA’s HOSA members, Olivia Ehimare ‘22 and Emma Ehimare ‘23, placed in the top three in Medical Assisting and Clinical Nursing, respectively, advancing them to the national competition. Something else special happened at this conference, too. Kele was elected president of the New York State HOSA chapter. What began as a dream for SHA turned into an exciting leadership opportunity. In her role as president of the New York State chapter of HOSA, Kele will oversee the executive committee made up of students from across New York. Together, that committee will plan and organize two state conferences: a leadership conference in the fall and the competition conference in the spring. “This is a great opportunity for me to grow in my leadership skills, to learn to be professional, and to make connections with other students.” These conferences also introduce students to top healthcare professionals in their fields. “Just by being around mentors and professionals, I’m learning a lot about what it takes to succeed in medical school, what organizations I can join in college, which classes to take. I feel like being involved in HOSA is the first big step in making my dreams a reality.” STUDENT LED EXPERIENCES: Outside The Classroom Kelechi Ezenwa ‘23 Members of the 2021-2022 HOSA club gather for a picture with their mascot “Benny Bones” and moderators Grace ModicaAmore and Melanie Whitney.

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