By: WHIMA Engagement Team Co-Leads – Charity Sari, RHIT, CCS, and Trina Blascko, MS, RHIT
The WHIMA Engagement Team had a great time representing WHIMA at the 2026 HOSA State Leadership Conference, where we hosted a WHIMA booth and connected with students from across the state. Our Student Ambassadors, Karla Svedarsky, CCS, and Aliea Strader, RHIT, CCS, each led a session titled “What is HIMT?”, engaging around 15–20 students per session and introducing them to the basics of Health Information Management and Technology.
Outside of the sessions, Charity and Trina (Engagement Team Co-Leads), along with Tanya Mulder—former Engagement Team Co-Lead—spent time at the booth talking with middle and high school students about what WHIMA is and what a career in Health Information Management can look like. Tanya also supported the conference by participating as a judge for middle school competitive events.
Together, we focused on helping students understand the impact of HIM in healthcare—especially the role it plays in supporting patient care and managing health data.