Hard work translates into awards for James Clemens at state HOSA meet

MADISON – Co-advisors Patricia Collins and Ashley Steinert sincerely hoped that their students in HOSA would have a good showing at the state conference. They got their wish.

(National organizers kept the established acronym, HOSA, but the club’s current name is “Future Health Professionals.”)

HOSA students from James Clemens High School racked up numerous, impressive awards at the Alabama State Leadership Conference in Montgomery on Feb. 24-25.

“The meeting was our first face-to-face conference since February 2020,” Steinert said. James Clemens competed in the high school division’s competitive events.

“James Clemens HOSA had almost 70 percent of students place in the top three, and 91 percent placed in the top six within their competitive events,” Steinert said. Event categories covered health science, health professions, emergency preparedness, leadership, teamwork, recognition in projects and Alabama-only recognition subjects.

The Jets claimed 11 Gold Medals in first-place wins:

* Manasa Vadapalli – First place, Medical Terminology.

* Sarah Guo – First place, Epidemiology.

* Jaxon Yamaguchi, Justin He, Bryan Preer and Akshat Dubey – First place, Biomedical Debate.

* Punarvi Mandadapu, Abby Kulkarni and Shreya Sunil – First place, Creative Problem Solving.

* Sydney Hur – First place, Veterinary Science.

* Madhu Balaji – First place, Research Poster.

For silver wins, 10 students earned Silver Medals in second-place wins:

* Hesham Shiekhtholth – Second place, Medical Nutrition.

* Angela Ai – Second place, Nutrition.

* Aasim Musani – Second place, Epidemiology.

* Khusi Patel, Shaivi Pandey, Sachi Ramachandran and Vaishali Ojha – Second place, Creative Problem Solving.

* Emily Lee – Second place, Medical Math.

* Nicole Conaway – Second place, Veterinary Science.

* Neil Sethi – Second place, Behavioral Health.

One student won in the Bronze designation:

* Ria Sethi — Third place, Nutrition.

James Clemens also had several students qualify for “Top 6 Students”:

* Carlin Chacko – Top 6, Biomedical Laboratory Science.

* Nikki Lipski, Emily Tieszen, Christian Lomack and Tyler Gohlich — Top 6, Creative Problem Solving.

* Jaya Vadapalli — Top 6, Dental Science.

* Riya Naphade — Top 6, Nutrition.

* Sohail Baig — Top 6, Medical Terminology.

“We are very proud of our James Clemens High School HOSA Chapter and all of our students’ hard work and dedication,” Steinert said.