Local grads take third in national competition
Two 2017 graduates of Hot Springs World Class High School who completed the two-year high school Health Science Technology Education program at National Park Technology Center recently tied for third place in the national American Medical Technologists Medical Assisting Student Bowl in Kansas City, Mo.
The competition was held during the AMT’s 79th Educational Program and National Meeting. The health certification organization is a nationally and internationally recognized certification agency and membership society for allied health professionals.
Tristin Finney and Oliver Steven-Assheuer earned third place. Both students are planning for careers in health care.
“I am very proud of Tristin and Oliver for the accomplishment of placing third in the Medical Assisting Student Bowl,” said Sherree Hughes, HSTE instructor at NPC. “Both young men were assets to our Health Science Technology Education program. I hate to lose them, but know they will do well as they advance in their future studies.”
The national competition includes participants from college and proprietary schools. Participants are asked questions about administrative, clinical and general knowledge of health care.
Finney already passed the Registered Medical Assistant national certification examination. He is now enrolled in the Medical Laboratory Technology program at National Park College with plans to become a surgeon.
“Tristin exhibits the commitment he has made to himself by striving and doing his very best in the classroom,” Hughes said. “He already has passed national certification tests in health care career areas as he graduated high school.”
Steven-Assheuer was recently announced as one of 50 students in the southeastern United States and 250 in the country to receive a Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship from the Council on International Educational Exchange to study abroad during the 2017-18 school year in Germany, his father’s country of birth.
“Oliver immerses himself in opportunities that present as a pathway to a successful future, such as representing Arkansas as a state officer for the Health Occupation Students of America organization,” Hughes said.
“He sets a goal and has a stepby-step plan on how he will accomplish that goal. Oliver leaves this week to begin his journey in Germany to study medicine and become a physician. You just don’t see that maturity in the majority of high school students.”
National Park College will host the AMT’s 2017 Arkansas state conference in September.