Yesterday, HOSA put a spooky twist on their meeting and held their first ever pumpkin pathology activity. Students brought in their own pumpkins and had to create diseases for the pumpkins. They used carving tools, paint, clay, fake blood and even the guts inside the pumpkin to show the disease they chose to make on their pumpkin. After they made their disease, students filled out a case study to understand the disease and to help other members understand the disease as well.

“We came up with the idea to do the pumpkin pathology activity because we wanted to do something fun for Halloween instead of just doing a meeting,” sponsor Andrea Teevan said. “It was a fun way for students to be able to learn about different diseases with a hands-on approach.”

This activity allowed members to express their creativity, and allowed them to be able to make them as unique as possible to fully represent their pathogen.

“I liked that we were able to pick our own pathogen. Being able to visually express the symptoms of the disease with a pumpkin was a really fun hands on experience,” senior Hanin Alqutbi said.

Students had groups for this meeting that ranged from three to eight people and decorated pumpkins with everything from a staph infection to ulcers to smallpox. With so many people in the group at once, senior Sarina Manchirala came across some challenges.

“While carving out our pumpkin, I found it challenging to try and share the carving process among all the group members, along with teaching my other friends how to carve the pumpkin in such a way that our group envisioned it,” Manchirala said.

The student body is encouraged to vote for the finished pumpkins in the cafeteria.