Smith-Cotton Students Take Heart-Healthy Message to Middle Schoolers

The Smith-Cotton High School chapter of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), an organization for students interested in careers in the health care field, recently held its second annual Heart Healthy Event at Sedalia Middle School.

This year the event was coordinated by senior Alex Esquivel and junior Grace Edgar as part of their community awareness event for the state leadership conference. SMS students participated in activities to learn about the heart.

The students were shown different models of the heart, had their pulse taken before and after exercise and with added weight, and viewed large drawings of the heart that illustrated how the blood moves through the heart.

HOSA members also took students' blood pressures. This year, HOSA has 23 students going to the state leadership conference at Missouri S&T in Rolla. Juniors Edward Toderescu-Stavila and Katelynn Montgomery are running for state officer positions.

Photo1: Smith-Cotton High School sophomore Hunter Sparks, right, takes a blood pressure reading from fifth grader Elyssa Dodson during the Heart Healthy Event at Sedalia Middle School. The event was planned and put on by the S-C chapter of HOSA, an organization for students interested in careers in the health care field.

Photo2: Smith-Cotton HOSA member Katelynn Montgomery, left, fits fifth grader Abigail Dake with a blood pressure sleeve during the group's Heart Healthy Event at Sedalia Middle School.