This year has flown by, and in some regards that is great, while in other ways, it is sad. The National Executive Council has remained busy this year with planning and preparing for the National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida. This year's officer team has worked exceptionally hard to ensure one of the most productive and exciting years ever.

Since the NLC in Anaheim, we have had meetings by conference call and each officer has submitted monthly reports. It is evident from these communications that the Executive Council has proven their abilities in leadership, service, and their strong commitment to the members of HOSA.

The membership of HOSA was represented by the Executive Council at the State Advisors' Management Conference, the Americal Vocational Association National Meeting, the HOSA, Inc. Board of Directors Meeting, the Competitive Events Program memeting, the Mississippi HOSA Fall Conference, and the New York HOSA Fall Conference.

Lowell Doringo, President-Elect, has worked especially hard this year. His goal has been to learn as much about HOSA as possible in hopes of doing a good job next year as National President. Lowell has also been very active in his home state of Texas by attending several regional conferences and by helping to form the first Postsecondary/Collegiate Chapter in Texas. HOSA should have no reservations about their leadership at the end of the NLC in Orlando.

Holly Lance, Region I Vice President, has also been extremely busy this year. Besides her involvement at the state and local levels, she has taken on the role of the Executive Council Historian. Her creative abilities will no doubt produce an outstanding scrapbook for all to see at the NLC. She traveled to the American Vocational Association meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, to represent the national organization.

Michael Nolen, Region II Vice President, has proven to be quite an asset to the Executive Council. Although he attends college in Atlanta, Georgia, he has been able to visit some local chapters in Tennessee. In addition, he will be attending the Tennessee conference this year. Michael s key ability to look ahead has helped tremendously in decision-making for the Council.

Shaundria Faulkner, Region III Vice President, has served HOSA well this year. Shaundria s gregarious personality has charmed many HOSA members. She is working to establish a Postsecondary/Collegiate Chapter in North Carolina. After attending a Fall Conference in North Carolina, Shaundria proved that a National Officer must be ready for anything. Two speakers did not show up, and she helped to ensure the event was a success anyway.

Theresa Simpson, Postsecondary/Collegiate Vice President, has kept her fingers busy this year. As the Executive Council Secretary, she has done a marvelous job developing agendas and taking minutes. Being very active in the state of Iowa has kept her busy as well. She has spoken to legislators about the benefits of HOSA, she has visited many local chapters, and she has attended many meetings in Iowa.

Sheri Burell, Secondary Board Representative, has been very active in service activities. She has been a strong contributor to diabetes education in surrounding areas where she lives. She has also helped the Make-A-Wish Foundation˙. Through serving on the Competitive Events Program, Sheri was able to voice student concerns regarding competitive events at the meeting in January. She also attended the Board of Directors Meeting in Dallas, Texas.

This has been a busy and productive year. The Executive Council has accepted many challenges and has managed to be very successful in meeting those challenges. Aside from their individual accomplishments, they have also worked as a team to complete several projects, such as: The National Officer Handbook, new National Officer Candidate campaign guidelines, and changes to the Business Session and election of National Officers.

If you have any questions that you would like the officer team to address, contact HOSA Headquarters immediately! We look forward to meeting you in Orlando!

Being a national officer takes many qualities. It takes commitment, responsibility, etiquette, decision-making skills, and leadership skills to mention a few. Two of the most important qualities on this list to be a national officer would be commitment and decision-making skills.

Commitment encompasses everything. As a national officer, you have so many commitments and it is important that you keep them. Sometimes you will know of your commitments in advance, but other times, you must be prepared to do anything. You always have to remember that you ran for office because you wanted to represent the members of HOSA. Of course, you will all have personal reasons as to why you want to become a national officer, but the primary reason for your position is to represent the membership.

If you are not committed to your office and the responsibilities that it entails, then you are not going to perform those duties to the level at which they must be performed. You may not realize it before you take the office, but your opinion as a national officer is highly regarded and respected.

The decision-making of a national officer is not a perfunctory activity. You should use great discretion and thought when making decisions that will affect other members of the organization. If you cherish HOSA, then as an elected leader, you should reciprocate your appreciation with a strong commitment. A strong commitment is a must to your duties and your responsibility to those who elected you.

Another important quality of being a national officer is decision-making. This, in part, includes such items as developing new ideas and looking at different policies affecting HOSA members, but most importantly, it includes the decisions made by you before you even decide to run for an office. The old saying goes, "Hindsight is 20/20." In preparing and deciding to run for a national office, your foresight needs to be 20/10. You need to look ahead to the next year of your life and see if HOSA is what you want. It is not simply a matter of seeing if HOSA will fit into your schedule, but whether the other activities you enjoy will fit into your schedule with HOSA as your number one priority.

The decision to run circulates around the whole aspect of commitment. Since commitment is obviously the most important part of being a national officer, the time of commitment should be deliberated and thought through before running for an office.

To help you decide if this is right for you, I would like to give you an activity which is a role-play about what being a national officer entails.

"After being elected, you will find out some of HOSA meetings that you will attend: the HOSA, Inc. Board of Directors Meeting; the upcoming NLC; the American Vocational Association Meeting; and possibly, the State Advisors Management Conference. During the year, you receive a call from the President requesting your attendance at a conference in Arizona. It is on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You agree to attend. Three weeks prior to the HOSA activity, two things happen at school. Your teacher tells you that you are having a major test on that Friday in one of your most difficult classes and you are invited to a Saturday night function with a person you have been wanting to date for a long time. You never thought that you would be invited to attend the school function much less with the special person who invited you. What would you do?"

Throughout the year, it will be your responsibility to submit monthly reports to the National President. On these forms, you will include anything that you have done for the previous month. Every other month, the Executive Council meets telephone conference call. These calls last approximately an hour. On these calls, you will discuss HOSA business and the goals that your team has set for the year. Depending on how ambitious your team has chosen to be, you will decide how much more time you will need to commit. You may be assigned different duties and tasks as the year progresses. With these different duties and tasks, there are, of course, deadlines.

Being a national officer can be fun, but it takes time and hard work. If you can organize and manage your time, you should not have a problem with the national position. Something that you must always remember is that you were elected to serve the membership of HOSA. The most crucial moment in the process of running for office is the decision to run in the first place. Take a lot of time to make that decision. Feel free to talk to any of the officers or the past officers to help you with your decision!

Submitted by:

Mitch Shores, National President