Monthly Archives: May 2025

What is HOSA– Future Health Professionals?

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If you are a high schooler interested in the medical field, HOSA would be an amazing organization to get involved in! Health Occupations Students of America, or HOSA, is an international student organization that works to improve the access of high-quality healthcare to everyone and to promote potential careers in the medical field. HOSA offers a special program of leadership development, inspiration, and recognition.

The State Leadership Conference (SLC)

If your high school has a chapter, or you would like to start one, the main goal of the club is to compete at the SLC. You would need to compete in two different events, one fully online event (known as red events) and another online and in-person event (known as blue events). For example, some red events include Behavioral Health, Dental Terminology, Human Growth & Development, and Nutrition. Moreover, some blue events include Clinical Nursing, Dental Science, Medical Assisting, Sports Medicine, and Physical Therapy. However, in order to be eligible to compete at SLC, you would need to take tests on your knowledge of your events. If you pass your blue event, then you can compete at SLC and if you pass your red event, then you potentially can get recognized for being top 5 in the state (depending on your score).

The International Leadership Conference (ILC)

For both red and blue events, top 3 in the every state for an event are eligible to compete at the ILC in Nashville, TN. Along with competing, there are also workshops where you get to explore and learn about different paths of the medical field and tournaments like Anatomage (a team-based anatomy competition).

Overall, I hope I spiked your interest in HOSA! I have been apart of HOSA for two years and cherish the opportunities and knowledge it has brought me! I always have the most amazing time at the SLC with my friends and my passion for the medical field grows stronger every conference. I hope to see you at the next SLC!

-Sophia B.

The Fox Maidens

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Amazon.com: The Fox Maidens: A Graphic Novel: 9780062685124: Ha, Robin, Ha, Robin: Books

The graphic novel, The Fox Maidens, by Robin Ha, is a graphic novel based on the legend of the nine-tailed fox Gumiho told in Korean folktales. This book tells of a young girl named Kai who dreams of becoming a warrior even as a female, she soon later finds out she turns into a fox every full moon and must eat the liver of a human in order to become human again. As we explore deeper into the plot of the story, Kai goes through a journey of self-discovery, independence, and experiences the truth of coming of age as a young teenager. We see more themes explored throughout the plot of feminism, and love.

This was a really intriguing book to read, I especially love reading books with the themes of fantasy and folklore. This is a great book to read when feeling up to reading adventure, fantasy, and sometimes feelings of sadness, and also even feeling more informed. Robin Ha´s way of describing the legend in this story, with both her skills of writing, drawing, and graphic really adds a whole level while reading this book, overall really gaining a whole deeper understanding of this story. Throughout the story, Kai gains a perspective on finding her own place in the world through love, compassion, and trust.

Robin Ha became popular especially after writing her book, Almost American Girl, which won the 2021 Walter awards, and is definitely next on my list to read for graphic novels. I would overall really recommend this book to lovers of the fantasy world and of magical creatures. This is such a great read! The Fox Maidens, is currently available to checkout from the Mission Viejo Library!

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

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Jacqueline Harpman’s novel, I Who Have Never Known Men, surrounds the theme of what it means to be human in a world where you have been stripped of everything that makes you feel human.

The novel follows a young woman, the narrator, with no memory of her past or the outside world, living in an underground cage with 39 other women, guarded by men who never speak. During her time in this cage, the narrator, who remains unnamed throughout the entire novel, lives with a constant urge to gain knowledge of the outside world and what humanity is really like. Relying on the broken memory of the other women, the narrator struggles to put together the notion of the outside world, like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that don’t fit together. She finds herself holding on to anything that makes her human, while being faced with dehumanizing circumstances everyday, such as defecating without privacy, walking with nowhere to go, and attaining intellectuality without proper books or educational material. This marks an important aspect of what makes humans, humans: The strive for knowledge and persisting curiosity.

One day, an alarm in the bunker where the women are imprisoned goes off, initiating the fleeing of the guards who accidentally leave the cage open when feeding the women. After a moment of wondering whether the guards would return and in disbelief that they were actually free, the women run from the cage, starting up the stairs of the bunker and facing the sky for the first time in years, feeling raindrops fall to their faces like water hadn’t existed, and feeling their heartbeats rise in adrenaline like their heart hadn’t beat before.

However, once free, the women face an unforgiving post-apocalyptic world, unlike the one they had remembered like a distant dream, and slowly begin to die, one by one, not just of illness, but of the burden of grief of missing their past lives. The narrator, having no recollection of this life and having had grown up in an imprisoned world, persists in her efforts to find her humanity while being the last of the women to survive a world unlike the one the women had described.

What I love about this book is that its a story of a human with so much of her humanity stolen from her, yet she still finds herself asking the most fundamentally human questions: Why am I here? What does this all mean? It’s a story about how even when born into a society so different from any that exists now, humans will always find hope, love, and wonder.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman can be downloaded from Libby. 

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck

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The Big Wave is a short novel by Pearl S. Buck. Kino is a young Japanese boy who lives on a small farm on the side of a mountain. If he is not at school or working with his father, he is usually with his friend Jiya, who lives in a fishing village just below the mountain. Because he lives so close to the ocean, Jiya often worries that the sea will suddenly become angry and create a phenomenon known as the “big wave,” a huge and destructive wall of water. Kino is aware that the big wave is a real possibility, but he does not consider it likely to actually occur. Unfortunately, the big wave suddenly appears one day and annihilates the entire fishing village, including Jiya’s family. Jiya was with Kino and his family when it happened, so he saw the entire destruction of his village. Kino does not know whether Jiya will be able to endure the emotional shock of this tragedy.

This book is short, but extremely impactful. I have always been fascinated with Japanese culture, and this book provides a great deal of insight into their traditions and way of life. This book is very realistic and meaningful. For example, Kino’s character traits, and specifically his flaws and weaknesses, are described in a very genuine way. Possibly my favorite thing about this book is its overarching message of dealing with grief and hardship. It also teaches about the power of bravery and the human spirit. After the big wave hit the village, I actually felt worried about Jiya and I wondered how he would be able to cope after this traumatizing experience. The way Jiya responds to this event would probably feel very relatable to anyone who has experienced a personal tragedy. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a short but poignant read.

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded from Libby. 

Captain America: Brave New World

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Captain America: Brave New World is currently the newest Marvel movie. The movie follows the journey of Sam Wilson, who is the newly appointed Captain America. Wilson tries to live up to the title he has but struggles as a world-altering event are going on. The movie has a great plot that has you questioning what is happening and beautiful action scenes that will put you on the edge of your seat. Rated PG-13 this movie is a good choice to watch with your family.

At the beginning of the movie, we get introduced to many of the characters and the main problem in the movie. This problem is that a genius named Samual Sterns is trying to make the world go against each other. Using his high intelligence, Sterns manipulates others into doing his dirty work, leading countries to the brink of war. This leaves Captain America to bring peace to the world. By the end of the film, Wilson is able to prove himself and save the world from a global disaster.

Captain America: Brave New World is a great choice to watch. The movie had a mysterious plot that left questions as you watched the movie, but got answered as the movie progressed. Another great attribute is the cinematic fight scenes consisting of battles in the sky and on the ground. This provides a sense of thrill and engagement. On the other hand, whenever there wasn’t an action scene I was busy daydreaming. The film really struggles when it comes to entertaining the audience when there isn’t a scene that involves fighting. Overall, this movie is worth the watch even though there may be moments that are boring and long.

In conclusion, the new Captain America movie is not a must-watch, but certainly is worth your time. While this movie may have some boring aspects, I believe the positives of this film outweigh the negatives. In my opinion, the fantastic plot and the well-illustrated action scenes are some of the best I’ve seen all year. Even though there may be some dull parts of the movie such as boring scenes, I still recommend for everyone to watch it, especially if you want to spend some valuable time with your family.

-Matthew R.

Book Review: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

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Recently, I created a bucket list of books that were previously or currently banned in some capacity that I wanted to read, and one book that particularly stood out to me was Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Known for his absurdist writing style, Vonnegut’s work never fails to be humorous and meaningful at the same time.

This book has no specific sense of time, a break from the typical writing style seen in most novels. The book begins with Vonnegut describing his personal connection to the book and his thought process in writing it. Having witnessed the Second World War and its brutality firsthand, there definitely is an anti-war aspect to the book. The story frequently jumps between time periods, as the book’s main character, Billy Pilgrim, becomes “unstuck in time” and “time travels” through what can be implied to be flashbacks and flash-forwards.

The book attempts to explain Billy’s warped sense of time, but also his understanding of life and death, as a result of his contact with an alien race known as the Traufamadorians. Billy “time travels” constantly between WWII and the post-war period, where he is supposedly at, with Vonnegut making it uncertain what time frame the book truly is set in. At the same time, Vonnegut introduces several narratives concerning the brutal and dehumanizing nature of war, including its random nature by killing off characters who were least expected to perish. In fact, part of the reason why the book was banned originally was because of its anti-war nature, with some citing it as “unpatriotic”. By creating these narratives, Vonnegut ultimately expresses a cynical sentiment concerning the cruelty of human nature.

SH5 is one example of Vonnegut’s incredible talent for world-building; while every event seems random or out of place in the context of where it is placed, everything fits together, albeit haphazardly. This book is full of surprises, and I really enjoyed this wild roller-coaster ride of a book that simultaneously managed to be full of significance and meaning, despite the author’s intention for many things to be meaningless. Ultimately, this intention is a paradox in itself. I’d recommend this book for anybody looking for a unique read, or just anybody who wants to read an important piece of literary history in general.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded from Libby. 

Jurassic World

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Overall this is a great movie, here’s why: Firstly, this movie introduces the coolest hybrid dinosaur in my opinion which is called the Indominus Rex. It can camouflage and hide itself from thermal cameras. This was how it tricked the workers into thinking that it was gone. When the workers come to check if it is still there, the Indominus Rex ambushes them and they escape by opening the cage door.

The Indominus escapes after this and wreaks havoc wherever it goes. It killed a lot of the park’s dinosaurs. It turned out that the reason it was doing this was because it was hunting for sport. This is not usual predator behavior, which showed how evil it was. It’s abilities and intelligence really makes it the coolest dinosaur showed in the franchise. In my opinion, the best.

The coolest scene in the movie was when the T. Rex and the I. Rex fight. The T. Rex is being helped by Owen’s Velociraptors. Owen is one of the workers at Jurassic Park who trains Velociraptors. The I. Rex is still winning the fight, but is cornered next to the lagoon. Out of nowhere, the Mosasaur comes and bites on to the Indominus, dragging it into the depths of the lagoon. I really loved this part since it showed how good always beats evil.

I really recommend this movie and I give it a 5/5.

Jurassic World, both the ebook and film, can be checked out from the Mission Viejo Public Library. 

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb (Book Review)

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If you’re looking for a new book, consider Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb.

To be completely honest, I’ve never been drawn to motivational/self-help books, so this was a surprisingly great read. I understand why people appreciate them, but personally, I always thought that they were a bit dull for my taste. I figured that if I was going to read something, I would rather it be a story about some faraway land or a critique of a post-apocalyptic society that vaguely resembled ours. To me, reading is more of an escape from life’s worries than a method of examining them. In fact, I had purposefully avoided the psychology sections of bookstores and libraries because I was entirely sure that nothing there would interest me— which is why it made no sense for me to pick up Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb.

I first found this book through a video I saw online that praised it as ‘one of the top ten books of the year.’ I had been looking for reading suggestions and felt that my recent fantasy selections were repetitive. What drew me into this book was the premise of it: a therapist experiences an event that changes the trajectory of her life so she starts attending therapy herself. This book, unlike other self-help books, came across as extremely genuine to me. Gottlieb is transparent with her audience about the way she feels (including her honest opinions of her patients) which makes her seem more like a friend telling you about her life than some omniscient therapy guru. She doesn’t claim to have all of the answers, nor does she put on a brave face for her audience, and she openly admits that she is wracked with anxiety and regret over the fact that she has lived almost half of her life by now yet barely gotten to experience the joys of motherhood. From Gottlieb’s perspective, we get to see how four of her patients, each with extremely complex and beautiful lives, deal with their struggles.

This unique writing strategy of interweaving stories from her own life with her patients’ keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. Just as a massive detail in one patient’s life is revealed, we are introduced to a memory from Gottlieb’s life that makes us see her in a new manner. These parallels between the patients and herself show how even authority figures who may seem to have life “figured out” still struggle themselves. For example, she had a plethora of career changes: first working on television sets, then finding her interest in medicine and studying at Stanford Medical School, then finally becoming a therapist. Having so many different perspectives helps her pull in knowledge to understand and provide care for her patients, care which she herself needs.

Gottlieb seeks therapy following an abrupt end to her relationship with her partner (whom she only refers to as ‘boyfriend.’) The casual manner in which he breaks up with her is shocking, but what she struggles with the most is his reason for leaving: despite being a father figure to Gottlieb’s son for years, he decided that he couldn’t handle the burden of children. Over the course of many sessions, she progresses through the five stages of grief and reflects on her past relationship.

Denial: The end of their relationship doesn’t feel real to her. She is convinced that he will call her at any moment with the realization that everything was a mistake and ask for her back.

Anger: Gottlieb berates ‘boyfriend’ in her therapy sessions, attacking him for being inconsiderate and his treatment of her. This stage seems to last the longest, and she occasionally relapses into anger.

Bargaining: Sometime after the breakup, she calls him and demands a better explanation for his actions (and takes notes to share with her therapist). However, bargaining only makes her angrier because no explanation will justify his actions.

Depression: Gottlieb experiences depression over her lost relationship, which her therapist suggests is part of a larger, more hidden feeling. Through their sessions, she discovers that her depression stems from a larger insecurity about not having enough time left in life for her to become a mother and pursue a family. ‘Boyfriend’ was part of this family, which is why the breakup triggered this reaction in her.

Acceptance: Finally, after much soul-searching, Gottlieb concluded that there was no reason to obsess about being behind in life when she could instead put her efforts into more productive things, such as being a mother, therapist, and writer.

After her final therapy session, she finally found peace in knowing that her fear of “running out of time” was all in her head. Gottlieb ends the novel by telling the reader to focus more on the present and less on the future and further elaborates that life continues to go on no matter what we do. This advice had a great impact on me because I could tell from her life experiences and progression through grief that she knows what these feelings are like. Her vulnerability with the reader transformed my perspective on mindfulness books, and I am excited to explore this genre further!

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded from Libby. 

How To Tackle FInals Season

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Around this time, every year, students from everywhere drown themselves in stress as the final countdown for the end of the school year begins. This school year period is typically called “finals season”, when classes wrap up their courses for the school year with a major test or project to prove that they have been listening and paying attention to the class. This leads to all sorts of overwhelming, strong feelings, such as stress, anxiety, etc., in students. To tackle this problem, I have a few tips that might prevent you from insanity speaking from personal experience.

First tip: sleep! This might be a cliché, and you might have heard this countless times, but it’s actually worth listening to. During this period, many students pull all-nighters to study for exams they have. Though this might seem effective and useful to have that extra time, it’s actually extremely useless. When you feel sleepy, your brain doesn’t function properly, so obtaining or learning new information while half-asleep won’t help you at all because it won’t even be absorbed completely in your brain, so all that studying was worthless. So, if you pull an all-nighter, you get less sleep, and like I said, no sleep means your brain is unable to function properly. You’d likely perform better on a test if you get a good sleep and study less than studying so much just for your mind to not retain that information, and you’re sleepy. So, at all costs, try to avoid the all-nighter trap because getting enough sleep is as important as studying for your exams. 

Next up, I recommend the “study smarter, not harder” method. Studying hard might benefit you and help with your performance in your exams, but there are actually ways to lessen those study times and still retain and review information, and it might be more effective. Instead of mindlessly going over notes or re-reading your textbook when you have an exam, if you use other methods of studying,  it can help you store that information in your brain faster and more effectively.  This can be using flashcards, flowcharts, mind maps, teaching a friend, forming study groups–you name it. You can find various study methods online, but keep in mind that everyone learns differently, so one study technique can work for others but not for you. 

Another tip I recommend is to take care of yourself. This isn’t talked about enough as much but taking care of yourself is as important as your exams. Take breaks while you’re studying, stay hydrated, and make sure to eat properly. Don’t skip meals just because you need to work on something. Your brain can’t function well with an empty stomach. Taking short walks outside or just going outside in nature can help clear your mind, too. Remember, your well-being comes first, so do some self-care!

This last tip may be difficult for people to understand or retrieve, but trust me, it’s difficult for me too; but your worth isn’t defined by your grades. Just because you didn’t do well in Chemistry class or English class, it doesn’t mean you’re a failure. People aren’t perfect—and that’s okay. Whether you got an A or a B or a C, or a D, it’s alright. Struggling at something challenging is actually good for the brain, so praise yourself for trying instead of beating yourself up for a grade that won’t determine your future. 

Disclaimer: Although I have given these tips, please keep in mind that I am not a licensed psychologist or mental health professional—just a fellow student who is on the boat and sharing some things that might help other students in tackling these hard times. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or need someone to talk to, please don’t be afraid to reach out for help by texting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. You matter.

The Fall of the House of Usher: The Tale of Madness and Decay

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Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher is a haunting short story that masterfully explores themes of isolation, mental deterioration, and the inescapable grip of family legacy. First published in 1839, the story follows an unnamed narrator who visits his old friend, Roderick Usher, at the Usher family estate. Upon arrival, he is struck by the bleak and decaying atmosphere of the mansion, which seems to mirror the physical and psychological condition of its inhabitants.

Roderick, suffering from a mysterious illness, and his twin sister, Madeline, who is on the brink of death, are the last members of the once-great Usher family. As the story unfolds, the mansion itself begins to embody the psychological torment of its residents. The house seems to crumble under the weight of its own dark history, and its eventual collapse parallels Roderick’s descent into madness.

I personally love the vivid, Gothic imagery Poe uses to enhance the story’s eerie mood. The detailed descriptions of the house’s dark, oppressive environment set the stage for the final, shocking twist, where Madeline, seemingly dead, returns from her tomb to confront her brother. I love the tragic conclusion in which the physical collapse of the House mirrors the emotional breakdown of the entire Usher family. I think Poe created a wonderfully dark story for anyone who loves Gothic, haunting stories.

If you enjoy eerie and chilling stories, Edgar Allen Poe is for you. The suspense leading up to the climax leaves you clinging to your chair and biting your nails which was perfect for Halloween which was when I read this. Ultimately, this timeless exploration of moral decay and inner turmoil is a wonderful read for anyone willing to pick up one of Poe’s horror novels.

Kaiya T.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.