State winners from Flathead, Bigfork and Whitefish high schools will advance to nationals after participating in a recent HOSA Future Health Professionals State Leadership Conference.

Nearly 400 Montana high school students tested their skills in 30 leadership, team, health profession and emergency preparedness competitive events. Students also attended a variety of seminars and speaker presentations during the conference in Helena on March 21 and 22.

The International HOSA Leadership Conference well be held in Orlando, Florida in June.

HOSA is a career and technical student organization that prepares students for college and careers in the health sciences along with leadership and service work opportunities.

Following are local results: Hannah Brann, Flathead, earned silver medals in Medical Reading and Extemporaneous Writing; Gillian Broughton and Hunter Grimes, Whitefish, brought home gold in Forensic Medicine; Noah Love, Flathead, won a gold medal in Researched Persuasive Speaking and silver medal in Medical Law and Ethics; Alyssa Pancoast, Bigfork, brought home a gold medal in Medical Spelling and a silver medal in Dental Terminology; and Ethan Potthoff, Whitefish, earned a gold medal in Whitefish Dental Terminology.

In team events, the Whitefish team of Broughton, Travis Catina, Grimes and Pothoff achieved gold in the Class A-C HOSA Bowl. The Flathead team of Sierra Dilworth, Kylee Meredith, Jace Reed and Melissa Roybal took home a silver medal in Biomedical Debate.

For more information about HOSA or the upcoming international conference, visit http://www.hosa.org.