Check Out Aanya Sidhu’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aanya Sidhu.

Hi Aanya, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
From early on in my life, I knew that I wanted to help people. My family always described me as someone so passionate about making an impact on this world, and so connected to serving my community. By the time I reached middle school, I knew that I wanted to become a doctor. In what field? That I didn’t know at the time.

But I knew that I wanted to explore healthcare, and one day accomplish a career within it. When I reached high school, I was still unaware of what exactly I wanted to do in healthcare. But then, my brother, who was at the time a senior, told me to join the clubs he was in. One of them is this club called HOSA. It was a club where you could explore the healthcare field by experiencing opportunities of certification such as CPR/First Aid and connection within the field as well as competing to show our growth over the year at a conference. At first, as I was only a freshman, I did not think much of it.

I thought it would be an interesting opportunity but nothing that would be super significant. At one point, my brother convinced me to run as a state officer, to get the best experience and understanding of who I am. I completed the application, and it opened so many doors for me. When I went to this final conference, it was the most exhilarating experience of my life. I had never been around so many like-minded people and was able to explore so many interesting aspects of healthcare.

I was able to present my work for the competitive events that I had worked months on, as well as interact with other HOSA members, and run for the state executive council. It was such a fun three days that I felt disheartened to go back, and I knew that my brother was right when he told me to join HOSA and run for state office. Now, almost a year from that time, I have grown so much through my healthcare experience.

Over this term, I was able to bond with my amazing state officer team, travel states for conferences and interacts with HOSA members from other states, grow my public speaking and leadership skills, plan for my state conference, and serve as the Colorado HOSA Vice President of Alumni. Most importantly, I have proven to myself that I was right about wanting to serve my community.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Exploring yourself is never a smooth road. I knew that going into healthcare was not something that would not be an easy path, and discovering everything about me would be even more difficult. Along the way, I experienced setbacks and failures that I would have to overcome.

For one, as someone who is still growing up, dealing with the many changes in the past year has been difficult to adjust to. It is setting in that as I become older, I take on more responsibilities that I would need to learn to balance with school as well as my enjoyment. It is difficult to deal with so much in my life and even now, I am still adapting to this life. Especially with the HOSA state executive council, which is quite a large responsibility to take on, I originally felt that it would only burden my life.

However, I felt like HOSA only freed me. Instead of having to complete work for classes that wear me down constantly, I get to work with some of my closest friends and travel with them. Whenever I do work for HOSA, there isn’t that stress about grades or anything, but rather a relief that I get to explore my passion instead. It is one thing that I can find peace with in life.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Currently, I am a student at Cherokee Trail High School.

I am in the IB program there and participate in many extracurricular with my community, including serving as the Vice President of IB Minority, a club that plans events and builds community within the IB diploma program, the Executive Officer for my school’s HOSA chapter that I serve along with my state officer position, the Community Service Director for Rotary Interact, a community service club that volunteers around the community, and a sophomore class representative on my student executive council. Outside of school, I often volunteer and complete my HOSA work.

Specifically within HOSA, I work along with my team on collaborative projects for our State Leadership Conference while also helping direct other projects such as our new HOSA store for SLC and our district representatives. As of right now, I am most proud of how much I have achieved in chasing my passions and driving myself to explore myself. I feel that out of many things, this tends to be the most difficult of all things to do.

As a high school student, it is not easy to chase into the healthcare field so early on, and I am proud of how much I have pushed myself toward my dream. And this is what I believe sets me apart from others. It is easy to believe that a kid cannot do much, yet throughout all these years, I have proved to myself that it is possible to make an impact early on, and it’s never too early to start chasing your dreams.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
During the COVID-19 crisis, I underwent my biggest change within myself. Around that time, I was in middle school, which was a time in which I could consider myself a typical teenager. I did not understand what I liked, especially about myself. I just aspired to fit in.

Yet when the crisis occurred, and I was forced to spend my time in my house, all day long for weeks and months, I discovered many things. I figured out how I liked to dress, how I enjoyed history, how I liked to read books more often than watch TV, and how I liked learning about the brain. When I emerged back from the crisis to return to school, I had changed so much that people did not recognize me. This may sound cliché, but the greatest lesson that I learned was to put more effort into loving yourself than to aspire for the love of others.

At the time, I lived only to impress others and gain their validation, something that perhaps, I still like to do sometimes. It was so draining to me, and I was so insecure about how I was. Most importantly, I did not even know what I liked, even though I was already a teenager. It was like I was living for others. Yet when you discover and love yourself, you gain motivation to follow passions and drive yourself to chase dreams, ones that you enjoy. Maybe if I had never spent time with myself, I would still be lost today.

Contact Info:

• Website: coloradohosa.org
• Instagram: @aanya.hosa