From March 9th to March 11th, 2017, Lambert HOSA attended their State Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The three day trip to the prestigious event held many opportunities for the members, including various competitions and workshops. After months of preparation, Lambert HOSA arrived as one unit, poised and professional, to the Marriott Marquis on March 9th, and members got to work right away.

The first night of the event consisted of the grand Opening Ceremony, in which all Georgia HOSA members arranged themselves into the Imperial Ballroom. With booming music and beaming lights, the Opening Ceremony kicked off with Ayesha Ahuja, National President of HOSA and Lambert alum, presenting her moving speech on the the purpose and achievements of the organization. As the night progressed, the Opening Ceremony came to a close, and once again, members started preparing for their first or second rounds, and those who already had there first round competitions awaited the Top 15 results.

After the second day of competitions, the Recognition Ceremony was called to action, in which many of Lambert students were given recognition. Many Lambert HOSA members received the Barbara James award, a recognition award given to students who volunteered for over 100 hours; 100 hours resulted in the bronze award, 175 hours resulted in the silver award, and 250 hours resulted in gold. Of these students were Berry Choi, Mira Bhakta, Becky Lee, Shreya Desai, Sujith Abbagoni, Chen Lin, Logan Casperson, Jazmine Newton, Emily Mazor, Tanya Roy, Jake Kwon, Lauren Hong, Neil Jagtap, Jack Kwon, Taylor Pigg, Neha Balachandran, Elizabeth Lansden, Ayushi Solanki, Aniket Adhikari, Pinak Raodeo, Noora Chandasir, Nicole Mistry, Mehul Kumar, Udit Shah, Megha Sequeira, Darin Lee, Milan Patel, Yumi Kim, Sarth Diskalkar, Trevor Starling, and Ariyana Shetty. The ceremony then shifted to the announcement of the winners of the Healthcare Issues Exam, and 7 of the finalists were from Lambert: Chen Lin, Katy Berny, Callahan Thompson, Colette Doerr, Jet Wang, Snigdha Kosuri, and Sarah Allan. Lambert member Hailey Giannotti received the National Service Project recognition for her hard work on the chapter scrapbook. The ceremony ended with Lambert receiving the award for largest chapter in attendance, which the advisers and students were extremely proud of.

After endless events and competitions, the conference finally came down to the results, where, once again, Lambert reigned to have many members that placed who will now be moving onto the international level of competition at the annual International Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida. Of the many members who received top 15, 30 won top 3; the 1st place winners consisted of Sujith Abbagoni, Justin Ahn, Mehul Kumar, and John Park for Biomedical Debate, Julia Chung for Biomedical Laboratory Science, Shreya Bayyapureddy, Siri Gandreddi, and Sindhu Sukumar for Community Awareness, Shannon Xayaraj for Dental Terminology, Aniket Adhikari and Berry Choi for Emergency Medical Technician, and Isabella Rakhlis for Healthy Lifestyle. The 2nd place winners comprised of Rohil Badkundri for Biomedical Laboratory Science, Frankie Kim, Joowon Kim, Elizabeth Lansden, and Chris Ree for Creative Problem Solving, Vishnavi Batchu and Kareena Trivedi for Health Career Display Board, Mahi Patel and Sarah Grayce Van Slyke for Health Education, and Nicole Mistry for Human Growth and Development. The third place winners were Alexis Hong and Vikram Sahgal for CERT Skills Emergency Preparedness, Rhea Balla, Asia Murray, Maya Patel, and Megha Sequeira for Community Awareness, Chen Lin for Dental Terminology, and Taylor Pigg for Medical Law and Ethics.

State Leadership Conference was a huge success for Lambert High School, and it consisted of both fun and competitive aspects that the students enjoyed dearly. After countless learning opportunities and events, SLC finally came to a close at the Closing Ceremony, where the students were released and began their wait for next year’s conference.