Smith-Cotton High School’s Jeffthan Glaster earned Top 10 honors at the National Geographic Family Medicine Career testing event at the HOSA International Leadership Conference held June 22-25 in Nashville.

A press release says Glaster, an incoming sophomore, also represented Missouri HOSA as a competitor in the Medical Assisting competitive event. HOSA Future Health Professionals is an organization for students interested in the medical field.

Other conference highlights included:
— A health expo where students could talk to staff from medical schools and health-related programs from colleges and universities across the U.S.

— Health-related educational symposiums, such as learning how to suture and gaining experience using the Anatomage digital dissection table.

— Getting a firsthand look inside an Army Forward Resuscitative Surgical Tent and speaking to Army doctors and nurses.

— Interacting with more than 10,000 HOSA members from across the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, China and South Korea.

Smith-Cotton’s HOSA chapter has more than 40 members who participate in service projects, gain insight from health-related guest speakers from the Sedalia community and have the opportunity to attend the HOSA State Leadership Conference. Smith-Cotton also offers four courses in the biomedical pathway taught by teachers Anna Singer and Angela Wisdom as part of the Project Lead the Way.

Photo: Jeffthan Glaster, left, an incoming sophomore at Smith-Cotton High School, earned Top 10 status in the National Geographic Family Medicine Career testing event at the HOSA International Leadership Conference held June 22-25 in Nashville. With him is S-C HOSA chapter advisor Anna Singer. (Courtesy of Sedalia School District 200)