On Feb. 20, 26 members of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) program attended the Spring Leadership Conference at Pittsburg State University.

Out of the 26, 11 qualified for the International Leadership Conference in Orlando. These students are freshmen Joy Lee and Katie Rodriguez, sophomores Joseph Lee, Sam Maceli, Emily Brooks and Chanu Lee, junior Mikayla Kitchen and seniors Madison Nagel, Alesha Lawson, Paul Worsley and Rachel Ruiz.

The students competed in a various events ranging from medical photography to first aid skills. Out of the 11 students, seven of them had never been to internationals before, including Lawson.

“Last year, I couldn’t go because I was involved in another trip,” Lawson said. “It is just a lot of fun to connect with people who have similar interests as you.”

According to Brooks, though there was a lot of preparation and hard work involved, but internationals will be a worthwhile experience. Brooks and her partner Maceli qualified for internationals in the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) skills event.

“[Maceli and I] went to Mr. Perez’s room for fourth hour and lunch every day and went in after school,” Brooks said “We also spent a lot of time after school together and individually.”

Not only does HOSA sponsor and science teacher Stuart Perez hope that his students move on to the international level, but he also said that he hopes that they have a good time.

“I hope they have fun doing it,” Perez said. “I always tell them that. If they aren’t having fun, don’t do it. Also, I hope they have learned something by studying for their event.”