Pickerington High School North senior Elise Moore is not shying away from new opportunities.
Moore is involved in a variety of organizations that appeal to her ambitious nature including Sunny Side Up, National Honor Society and Tea Club. She also tutors younger students in reading.
While that is more than enough to keep her busy, Moore is also a part of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA). The international student organization seeks to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and cultivate the passion in the next generation of health care professionals. Moore’s interest in HOSA started years ago, after she sustained a soccer-related injury.
“I ended up having to have knee surgery,” says Moore. “I found interest in medicine because I wanted to help athletes get back onto the field. … I think my interest in orthopedic surgery is mainly because of the injuries I’ve had and how much better rehabilitation was because of the doctors I worked with.”
After competing and making it to the HOSA national competition last year in Orlando, Florida, Moore is leading the pack as chapter president. However, all this hasn’t quite kept her busy enough. With the help of advisor Andy Harris, Moore has started new initiatives for HOSA.
“For the past few years, HOSA is really only active around competition time. I wanted to do more than just competitions, so one thing we started were STEM days with the elementary schools,” Moore says. “Mr. Harris helped me to organize and select students to go to Pickerington Elementary. We brought cool gadgets and organs, and talked to the kids about the heart.”
Moore is always looking for more ways to learn and lead, which brought her to the 2018 Education First Berlin Summit. Education First offers students opportunities to learn about a variety of topics through its academic programs all over the world.
“It was a really cool experience. I had never been to Europe and it really made learning more fun because I got to sightsee and hear some influential people speak,” she says. “I got to have conversations with people my age with similar interests.”
Being able to hear the various speakers was her favorite part of the experience – she attended talks by child inventor Ann Makosinski and former Facebook market director and spokesperson Randi Zuckerberg. Hearing these women speak made an impact on Moore as she feels that women are often underrepresented at leadership conferences.
Moore hopes to get into Case Western Reserve University and medical school someday, and is looking at traveling abroad again. Clearly, she’s open to whatever opportunities come her way.
“I’ve learned the importance of trying new things and stepping outside of my comfort zone,” she says. “I’m not afraid to be shot down and speak up when I have an idea, no matter how big or small I think it is. I think it’s really helped in my leadership role. It’s OK to use my voice and I want to do that.”
Zoë Glore is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at zglore@cityscenemediagroup.com.
