PORT NECHES — Artistic flair combined with knowledge of the health care field earned Becca Broaddus a chance to compete with students in a national competition.

Broaddus, a member of Port Neches-Groves High School’s Health Occupations Students of America organization, placed third in the extemporaneous health poster state competition this month. The competition is tough — students are given a health topic and three hours to draw/paint and depict their interpretation of the subject.

Christie Wolfe, HOSA sponsor, said this year’s topic was teen health and weight control.

Broaddus’ poster featured a catch phrase “exercise and motivate your life,” surrounded by drawings of males and females of various races participating in athletics/sports. The junior purposely left the face of each person on the poster blank allowing viewers to place themselves in the poster.

While the student was awed by the talent of the other students on the state level and shocked when her name was announced, Wolfe was confident Broaddus would place in the contest.

The topic of the prior contest, region, was “how HOSA and the American Red Cross came together to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.” This time the talented teen took second place with her depiction of a mother and child and the phrase “paving the way to normalcy.”

“I’m thrilled she has this opportunity and she’s a very talented student,” Wolfe said.

HOSA allows high school juniors the chance to test the waters of the health field. Although Broaddus enjoys the class she has decided the health field may not be the right choice for her, instead she wishes to pursue art and journalism.

The state is divided into seven regions and students in first through third place advance to state and the top three students from state advance to national competition in Anaheim, Calif. Texas has the largest number of students for membership.

The Groves native will also travel to state competition next week for University Interscholastic League headline writing.

Becca Broaddus is the daughter of Tony and Shelley Broaddus.