Hundreds of aspiring professionals will gather at the Nevada State Leadership Conference for a dynamic event filled with competition, leadership training, and career networking, aiming to sharpen their skills and expand their opportunities.

“It’s a great learning experience,” SLC Coordinator Biridiana Magana Contreras said. “I went last year, and had a really great time learning new things at the booths, but also networked with other fellow competitors and overall I’d recommend our members to go.”

This year, HOSA is bringing triple the number of competitors compared to last year’s conference.

“Our main goal this year was to gather more members,” SLC Coordinator Tsz Ching Situ said. “We only had maybe around five general members to go to SLC; the rest were just board. Given the fact that ACTs were on the same day as SLC last year, I made sure it was a priority this year to get every member that was interested to go.” 

Students will compete in their respective competitions on the first day of the conference.

“The biggest issue is going to be the test,” sophomore James Warden said. “They [the HOSA committee] gave us resources to study, but they can make the questions off of anything from the sources. It’s going to be difficult figuring out what I’m supposed to take from the resources to memorize for the tests.” 

Afterwards, the rest of the trip is for the students to engage in different exhibitions for their own interest.  

“You can find out more information about certain things,” sophomore Sofia Yemane said. “I’m really interested in the presentations they’re going to hold. They mentioned [at an SLC meeting] there was a booth with a VR and it was a surgical simulation where you helped the doctor, and that really caught my eye.”

While at the conference, students are encouraged to keep an open mindset and still acknowledge the friendly competition.

“Since SLC is a break from school, I want them to adopt a play-hard, work-hard mindset,” HOSA President William Deng said. “We’re working as hard as we can for the competitions, but we’re also having as much fun as we can. I’d like to set a good example for our members to be on their best behavior while at SLC.”

Overall, HOSA has high hopes for each and every competitor to reach the top of their respective events. 

“In the past, this conference has been this place where students can grow and learn with their environment,” HOSA adviser Cynthia Wong said. “I don’t want to put expectations and goals on them. All we’re asking is for them to represent the school and to do the best they can.”