International Leadership Conference 2018

On June 27-30, 2018, rising sophomore Haley Bowland had the opportunity to compete at the International Leadership Conference in Dallas, TX. Placing first at the SLC in Health Career Photography, she was excited that her hard work and effort gave her the ability to travel and represent North Meck at HOSA's highest competition level. Sara O'Brien had the opportunity to go as well, placing first in Epidemiology, but the conference conflicted with her attendance at the well-respected NC Governor's School for Spanish.

Haley traveled with South Meck participants, and thus got to enjoy developing new relationships while being able to interact with some of the country's other most promising future health professionals. She describes this conference as, "a new and exciting experience, that was filled with more than just HOSA competition—it was meeting new people, it was exposure to the real world, it was learning more about yourself and your strengths and weaknesses. I really enjoyed this year's ILC and I hope others will have the opportunity to attend as well."

At the grand awards ceremony, Haley got the by getting in the top 10 in Health Career Photography. In the moment, she says that, "hearing my name filled me with joy. At that point, I didn't care about placing top three because I was already beyond proud and thankful for it all."

While she has been back home from her mountaintop experience for a few days, the final results came out today, and she learned that she placed seventh, out of eighty-eight competitors.

We are so proud of Haley's accomplishments during her inaugural year in the North Meck Chapter of HOSA, and we look forward to seeing what she can achieve the rest of her high school years. She is one of the two non-seniors on the 2018-19 HOSA Officer Board, representing North Meck HOSA as the Historian. We hope that in upcoming years, we can have more our of members be exposed to higher levels of competition, and be able to prove to themselves what they are capable of.

Here's to another great year of competition and success!