The members of Charlotte Latin School’s HOSA - Future Health Professionals Club won multiple competitive events at the 2025 HOSA State Leadership Conference in Greensboro, NC. Over 4,000 students attended the HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) conference between March 26 and 28, but the 14 Latin representatives excelled. Latin fielded three different biomedical debate teams, who argued on the topic of government regulating social media use for people age 17 and younger; they finished first, third, and fifth. (The first-place team’s members were Lillian Dong ’27, Arshia Jalali ’27, and James Xu ’27; the third-place team included Shivani Kaw ’27, Anjali Rao ’27, and Sita Sagunarthy ’28; the fifth-place team comprised Saanvi Gaddam ’27, Divija Rao ’26, Jackie Rao ’26, and Nicholas Willett  ’26.)

In addition, Sia Gullapalli ’27 received the Barbara James Service Gold Award, honoring the many hours of service she has given to the Novant Health pediatric emergency room. And Nishanth Gaddam ’25 came in first place in the epidemiology event in the emergency preparedness category. 

Gaddam was the founder of the HOSA - Future Health Professionals Club three years ago; in that time, its membership has grown from four Latin students to over 30. “This is a self-motivated group of students who commit to learning about a topic,” said the club’s advisor, Jean Asinger RN BSN MSN, the Upper School Nurse.

The students who placed in the top three in any category received an invitation to HOSA’s International Leadership Conference in June, to be held in Nashville, TN. But the experience was rewarding for all participants, Asinger said: “It’s a jumping-off point — participating exposes them to different health-care careers and opens up opportunities.”