HOSA!

Hello!

Greetings from HOSA!

I'm currently at a state conference for HOSA (Health Occupational Students of America). It's been pretty fun; we've been given a ridiculous amount of freedom here. Next door to the hotel we're staying at is a mall where we could wander around and eat. Mostly eat though, I don't like shopping.

It's also been kind of boring. After my event, I had nothing to do until eight for the ending ceremony, and that was at 10:50. I did get to watch The Ring with my roommate (so full of ridiculousness) and study for my exams and make up tests next week (ugggggh). And look, now I'm blogging!

It's also been really annoying. My event ran about twenty minutes late, probably from bad planning; they didn't bother to factor in the judge element.

Also, we are forced to dress up. I'm not complaining since it makes sense to look professional during competition, but if the opening ceremony is like a rock concert, why are we all in suits? Plus, they were really strict on shoes and yet, we can bring glow sticks and pom-poms?

So here's my letter to HOSA. Not to mock and criticize but suggestions on how to improve the conference for next year.

Dear HOSA,

First of all, I want to say that you are awesome. I had fun at the state conference. The judges and event managers were nice, and the freedom was a very nice touch. The location is fantastic; I'm glad you knew that we like cheap crappy Chinese food and a giant place to run around in.

Unfortunately, my stay wasn't perfect. The opening ceremony was ridiculous; the music was way too loud and the light on the left of the stage was in my eye almost the entire time. The awards seemed to never end, and the cheesiness of the whole "Mission: HOSA" theme was sickening. I also felt really bad for the officers forced to stay on stage the whole time; you could watch their smiles turn sour.

The opening ceremony was also set up like a rock concert, which was really confusing to me. All of the students were asked, ordered, to dress in suits and fancy pants, yet the ceremony was full of old rock music like Womanizer and annoying strobe lights that, over half the time, were in my eyes? Students were able to bring glow sticks and pom-poms, yet others couldn't come in with Converses or shoes with a little bit of toe showing? Also, we're not allowed to leave the event early to study and get some sleep for our events because it's "part of the HOSA experience"?

I call BS on ya'll. I'm sorry, I love you HOSA, but seriously? Part of the HOSA experience is to be bored and annoyed and tired and forced to listen to an "expert in motivation" trying to get the crowd to say "hoorah" every ten minutes? I don't want that part of my HOSA experience, and I'm sure you don't want that to hold true to all 2,300 or so competitors at this event.

We may be high school and college students, but we don't need bright strobe lights and loud music to stay awake. We need short and simple, not two and a half hours of, again, lights shining in our eyes and music loud enough to cause our ears to bleed. We need clever jokes and irony, not a random and over-dramatic girl wearing a clown nose for no apparent reason. We are not druggies and high school dropouts; we are future doctors and surgeons!

This is all on the opening ceremony and nothing on the schedule of boredom. Sorry again but this freedom you are trying to give us is boring. If you are trying to give us down time between events, please give us something more to do. The mall only provides food for most of us, and the seminars are only on one day. Spread them out! I would have loved to see at least three of them, but I could only see two (in the last one, the speaker never showed up). Offer more events rather than just a talent show and late night karaoke and dance.

Overall, unfortunately, this trip was not ideal. I hope you take these suggestions into mind for next year and improve HOSA for 2012. I also hope that I'll be here to see the changes you make on this conference.

Sincerely,

__________
(LG607)

Thanks for reading up to this point. I hope y'all are having a great weekend!

LG607