Three rising McCallie seniors were among 10,000-plus students from around the world who attended the International Leadership Conference for future health professional students at the Opryland Gaylord Convention Center in Nashville.
The conference was hosted by HOSA, formerly known as Health Occupation Students of America, a global student organization whose mission is to promote careers in health and medicine. The students were in attendance for the conference’s informational sessions as well as competitive events.
Representing McCallie and competing in several events were Benjamin Yang ‘23, a boarding student from Minnetonka, Mn., Tucker Luna ‘23, a day student from Signal Mountain, and Jimmy Wu ‘23, a boarding student from Jiangsu, China.
Benjamin Yang competed in the testing for three categories: general chemistry, organic chemistry and pharmacology. He placed in the top 10 for pharmacology and earned first place overall in organic chemistry.
Tucker Luna competed in the biomedical laboratory sciences category. He first took a written test, where he placed in the top 36 out of roughly 200 students and he advanced to the final round.
Jimmy Wu, who was instrumental in organizing the McCallie HOSA chapter and preparing the McCallie group for the leadership conference, competed in the biology testing.
HOSA chapter advisor and science teacher Neal Dexter was pleased with the group’s showing at the conference. “I am very proud of these guys for competing at this level. They represented McCallie well, just as I expected. Their results were outstanding, especially considering it’s our first year ever to attend and participate in HOSA events.”