Starting a Chapter

HOSA is a primarily student-led organization, but an adult is required for every chapter to overlook all operations. Typically, an advisor will be a science teacher at a school, but it can be any school personnel that has an interest in healthcare sciences. Once you have found someone who is interested in sponsoring your chapter, make sure that they recognize and understand the responsibilities that come with being an advisor. That can be found in Section C of the HOSA Handbook. Once you have your adult advisor secured, be prepared to recruit at least 5 members. 

Congratulations on finding an advisor! Once that is done and you have found students who have expressed interest, it is time to contact the state office. Your chapter advisor should either call or email the state advisor. The state advisor is a great resource who will help you every step of the way. They will ensure that you get all the latest updates from the state office, and they will put you in touch with the regional advisor. 

The chapter advisor should also contact the national office in order to obtain a charter number and password. That will allow the chapter advisor to access the online Affiliation System to register members. This system can be found on hosa.org. You can find more information on the Affiliation System website.

Now you want to focus on establishing your HOSA chapter in your school. Make sure that you set a place and time for the first meeting. Print out flyers and if possible, try to see if you can get it advertised in the afternoon announcements. HOSA isn’t just for students who want to become medical professionals. It is a place to foster growth in students who are interested in all sorts of things. You can obtain many of your members through the Snowball Effect, which is where students will spread the word at an exponential rate. 

The last step is gathering a list of students have demostrated interested in joining. It is highly advised thatall health scneice students have HOSA integrated in their classes. It can help expose them to HOSA and provide them an advantage. You should set a deadline for dues and paperwork. Once that is done, make sure that all the registration is done through the Affiliation System and verify with the regional advisor that everything is good to go. More students can always be added later on, if needed.

You are done! Make sure that you regularly have meetings and update members. It is imperative to frequently check in and see where members are in the preparation for their events. The more you interact with your members, the tighter your chapter becomes. Winning the competitions is incredible and should be celebrated, but what is more important is that you create a community that encourages and facilitates growth. So, make sure you go out there to not just meet expectations, but to shatter them.