Eight students from the Collinsville Area Vocational Center traveled to Orlando, Fla., June 24 – 28 to participate in the 2014 Health Occupations Students of America National Leadership Conference.

Collinsville Area Vocational Students who qualified for the 2014 Health Occupations Students of America National Leadership Conference / Submitted photo

The CAVC students were part of a group of 106 Illinois students representing 15 schools at the conference.

To be eligible, students were required to complete an on-line assessment. The top scoring students went to the HOSA state competition and tested their skills against 750 other students. The top three places in each area qualified to attend the national conference this summer.

CAVC Director Tricia Blackard said she is proud of the health occupations programs offered at CAVC and commended the students on their hard work.

“Their instructor, Sherry Modeer, and their parents must be incredibly proud,” Blackard said. “They are excellent representatives of our community and the health care field.”

The CAVC students who attended were Shayma Al-Jaff, Supria Autenreith, Savannah Bogus and Brittany Weaver, who qualified in Creative Problem Solving. Kayleen Derringer and Ayla Werrbach qualified in Community Awareness. Savannah Bogus, who qualified in Epidemiology. Cheyanne Buneta qualified in Personal Care and Chatoria Watson qualified in Clinical Specialty.