Medical Terminology, Health Education, and Speaking Skills; just three areas of competition for middle school students in the Queen Creek Unified School District. The 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders taking on these challenging competitions are part of HOSA, Health Occupational Students of America. On April 20, QCUSD students put their studying to the test at the State HOSA Competition in Tucson.

Traditionally, HOSA has been for high school students; however, for only the second time ever at State, Arizona middle schools competed including Queen Creek Middle and Newell Barney Middle School. To say QCUSD students performed is an understatement; QCUSD students gave their all in each HOSA competition and it showed!

From Queen Creek Middle School: Breanna Jonaitis, Drew Blackwell, Bryson Roseborough, Maelynn Reed and Lennon VanAusdaul took home 1^st Place Golds, Jacob Causer took home 2^nd Place Silver, Lia Blackwell took home 3^rd Place Bronze and Alicia Kalafus took home 4^th Place.

From Newell Barney Middle School: Jaiden Pacheco took home 1^st Place Gold, Riley Ballard and Devan Richardson took home 3^rd Place Bronze and Emily Hill and Kyleigh Wiles took home 5^th Place. Students who placed 1^st through 3^rd qualified to attend the International Competition in Orlando, Florida June 26-30, 2017.

Students from Queen Creek High School also competed in the State HOSA Competition. Edith De La Torre took home 1^st Place Gold in Physical Therapy, Emma Calvari took home 2^nd Place Silver in Extemporaneous Writing, Brandon Sloboda took home 4^th Place in Physical Therapy and Haley Milton came in 5^th in Prepared Speaking. More than 2,000 students from around Arizona competed in the State HOSA tournament. Edith, Brandon and Emma will now go on to the International Competition.