Students create health awareness PSA for state competition

A team of students from Mission Early College High School is taking a 30-second public service announcement, that took months to create, to the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) state competition.

HOSA, a national organization, is aimed at inspiring high school students to pursue health professions.

Every year, competitions are held to challenge students’ knowledge and creativity.

This year, students were given a theme: “Sitting is Death – It’s all about Physical Activity.”

The purpose of the project is to analyze the general public’s understanding of a health issue and use technology to publicize the message.

The team, made up of four young women from MECHS produced, filmed and edited a PSA that earned them first place in the local competition.

The video portrays a young man with no ambition to do any type of physical activity and within seconds illnesses and diseases appear in bold words.

“As future professionals, we need to keep this in mind,” said Arely Diaz, a member of the HOSA team.

“It’s an issue that’s controlling our world right now and it’s important for people to be physically active.”

On Wednesday, the team travels to Galveston in hopes of also bringing home a top spot. The team must win two rounds.

The team is also sharing the video via social media. To help them win, the students have to prove they are reaching an audience and hopefully making an impact.

The video has to receive feedback such as comments, likes and shares on social media.

To help with exposure, the video is currently playing on a loop at the entrance of the swimming and recreation center at the University of Texas at El Paso.

“The development was all them and now they get to see how it impacts everyone else,” said Lucero Macias, the health teacher overseeing the project.

Macias said creating the video benefits her students, whether they decide to pursue a career in health or media.