On March 18, members of HOSA, Health Occupations Students of America, went to Missouri S&T in Rolla for the annual State competition. At State, members compete in various competitions involving medical or health related topics. Out of the 42 members that went 18 placed in the top three, including sophomores Cate Hahn and Brandi Stover.

“The category we competed in was forensic medicine which basically is relating medical knowledge to the investigation of a crime or the case of injury or death,” Hahn said. “A few weeks before state we made a study plan so we could be better prepared on the actual test day.”

The study plan included reading a section of a book all about forensic medicine and taking notes about what that section covered. In addition to the book they made note cards on all important vocabulary. They followed this plan up until test day, March 19, where the two both took a 50 question multiple choice test individually and their score was averaged together. Hahn and Stover placed second out of 33 teams in their category.

“When we found out we got second place, I thought it was a joke,” Stover said. “I genuinely did not think we were going to do as well as we did, so I am very proud of us. Since we placed in the top three we are eligible to go to Nationals at Disney World in July.”

Many people were excited to hear the news of the duo placing at state including close family and friends, like sophomore Kate Sauer who has been friends with them for years.

“I was beyond excited for them,” Sauer said. “They are two of my best friends and I love them so much. I am so proud of them that they put in the work and it paid off. I know they have been wanting to reach their goal of placing for a while and I am so happy they accomplished it.”