Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology · Alexandria, Virginia · Chartered chapter, Virginia HOSA
Our chapter was shut down because the state's #1 school for science and technology didn't offer the one course the rules required. TJ students didn't file an appeal. They went to Richmond and changed the law.
Each public middle school and high school may establish career and technical education student organizations, regardless of whether such school offers career and technical education courses.Virginia Code § 22.1-227.1, as amended by SB 707 — 2024 Acts of Assembly, ch. 776. Signed April 8, 2024. Effective July 1, 2024.
HOSA–Future Health Professionals is a global, student-led organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to empower members to become leaders in the global health community through education, collaboration, and experience.
Founded in 1976, HOSA is 100% health care — every part of its program points at one industry. That focus is what makes it useful. The people you meet through HOSA are the people you will apply alongside, train under, and eventually hire.
TJ's chapter takes that seriously. We are building this as a professional network with a competition season attached, not a competition team with a mailing list.
Most school clubs are founded. This one was re-founded — by students who read the rule that killed it, decided the rule was wrong, and got it rewritten for every public school in Virginia.
Virginia tied CTSO chapters to CTE course offerings. TJ didn't offer the qualifying health science course, so the chapter lost its charter — not for lack of interest, performance, or students headed into medicine, but for a line in an eligibility rule.
Rather than lobby for one exception for one school, TJ students made the general case: a school's course catalog shouldn't determine whether its students can join a national professional organization. They researched the code section, built the argument, and found legislators willing to carry it.
SB 707 amended § 22.1-227.1 to let any public middle or high school establish CTSOs regardless of its CTE course offerings. It was signed on April 8, 2024, became Chapter 776 of the Acts of Assembly, and took effect that July — opening HOSA, DECA, FBLA, TSA, SkillsUSA, FCCLA, and Educators Rising to schools that had been locked out.
No course prerequisite. No application. Freshmen through seniors, whether you are certain about medicine or just curious what the work actually looks like. The students who fixed the rule are handing the chapter to you.
The competition season is the visible part. The network is the part that lasts past graduation.
TJ produces an unusual concentration of people who go into medicine, research, and health policy — and then stay reachable. Our chapter is built to put current students in the same room as them.
We are building a mentorship program that pairs members with alumni and working professionals by interest — surgery, public health, computational biology, health law, device and diagnostics startups.
Chapter-supported research studies, run with faculty and alumni advisors. Members who want a project get one; members who want to join a project can.
HOSA's competitive events program runs from the chapter through the Virginia State Leadership Conference to the International Leadership Conference. Six categories means there is a real event for a debater, a lab scientist, a writer, and a first responder.
You get what you put into this.
Nobody will chase you for a form. The members who show up to prep sessions, take a research slot, and email the alumnus they were matched with are the ones for whom this chapter becomes the most useful thing on their transcript. That is the deal, stated plainly.
HOSA divides its competitive events into six categories. Some are written exams, some are timed clinical skills in front of judges, some are presentations and debates. Pick a category to see representative events.
Written exams on health knowledge. The category for people who like learning a body of material cold — and the one where TJ's academic habits transfer most directly.
A knowledge test plus a judged skills round. You learn and then perform a real clinical procedure — taking a blood pressure, taping an ankle, running a lab technique.
Response under time pressure, plus the population-level side of it. Several of these carry certifications worth having regardless of where you end up.
Individual events built on writing, speaking, and presenting. Health Policy extemporaneous writing is the natural home for anyone who found the SB 707 story interesting.
Teams of two to six. This is where the chapter does its best work together, and where a research project can become a competition entry.
Recognition for service and volunteer hours rather than a scored round. You can enter as many of these as you earn, and they run alongside everything else.
Event lineups are set each year by HOSA and Virginia HOSA, and some events change or rotate. Official guidelines live in Section B of the HOSA Handbook. Members may enter up to two Health Science events and one event across the other scored categories; Recognition events are unlimited.
Affiliate, pick your events, and prep with the chapter. Virginia HOSA opened 2026–27 affiliation on August 1 and closes it December 18, 2026.
Online testing runs first, proctored locally. Competitors from across the Commonwealth meet for skills rounds, presentations, workshops, and the state officer election.
Top state finishers advance. The 2027 ILC is in Philadelphia, June 22–25 — close enough to drive. Houston follows in 2028.
Northern Virginia and DC hold one of the densest concentrations of hospital systems, biotech firms, federal health agencies, and health policy work in the country. We are actively working to turn that proximity into access for members. These are conversations underway, and we will name partners here only once agreements are signed.
Health systems across Northern Virginia and the District, for shadowing, volunteer placements, judged skills practice, and speakers who can describe the job rather than the brochure.
A medical school is being planned for the region. A relationship built now — while it is standing up — is worth far more to TJ students than one negotiated a decade in.
Companies along the Dulles corridor and the I-270 biotech cluster, including ventures founded by TJ alumni, for site visits, project sponsorship, and mentorship.
Agencies, associations, and legislative offices in Richmond and DC. This chapter already has a legislative track record; we intend to keep using it.
An interest meeting and a chapter overview, then event selection with returning members who have already run the season once. You will pick a competitive event, get matched into a research or service project if you want one, and meet the first of the alumni we bring in.
A network is only as good as the people who answer. If you came through TJ and ended up anywhere near medicine, research, health policy, or health business, we would like to hear from you.
Take a mentee, sit on a panel, judge a practice round, host a site visit, or join the Board of Advisors. An hour a semester is a real contribution.
Reconnect with the chapterShadowing, placements, sponsored research questions, speakers, and judged skills practice. Tell us what you can offer and we will build the program around it.
Discuss a partnershipQuestions about the chapter, chaperoning a conference, or the SB 707 story and what it has meant for schools across Virginia.
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