Thirty-eight Lahainaluna High School students qualified to compete at the state HOSA conference this week.

LAHAINA – On Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 19, more than 260 students attended the eighth annual Maui HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) District Conference.

High schools included King Kekaulike, Maui High School, Kamehameha Schools Maui and Lahainaluna. This year, Lahainaluna hosted the event that included over 25 events, six workshops and keynote speaker Paul Asuncion. Hawaii State Advisor Ada Toyama brought with her from Oahu the HOSA state officers to run two leadership workshops and distribute ribbons at the awards ceremony.

Students competed in their chosen medical and leadership events to seek qualification for the state conference held at the Hawaii Convention Center on Oahu on Feb. 10-11. The top three competitors then move on to the national conference, which will be held in Anaheim, California this summer.

Lahainaluna, hosting its third conference at home, qualified 38 students. Thirty moved on to the state conference.

“This is the first year that Lahainaluna HOSA has freshmen in the program. I was quite pleased with the efforts and results of these young competitors. This Lahainaluna HOSA team is very young, but hopefully these students gain the experience from these opportunities that help enhance their future college and career goals,” said Malia Shimomura, who leads the Health Services Pathway at Lahainaluna.