LWSD students shine at 2026 HOSA Washington State Leadership Conference

Lake Washington School District (LWSD) students demonstrated their talent, dedication and passion for health sciences at the 2026 HOSA Future Health Professionals Washington State Leadership Conference in Spokane March 9-11.

Competing against students from across the state, LWSD participants earned numerous top placements and showcased their skills across 65 health science and leadership competitive events. These included individual and team competitions focused on medical knowledge, hands‑on clinical skills, public speaking, problem solving and health advocacy. When not competing, students participated in workshops and leadership sessions designed to prepare future health professionals for post-secondary education and careers in healthcare.

In addition to strong competitive results, LWSD students were recognized for their leadership at the state level. Elaine Jin, a sophomore at Juanita High School and HOSA Region 4 vice president, was inducted onto the HOSA State Officer Board for the 2026-27 year.

Students who place in the top three (and in some cases top four) at the state leadership conference are eligible to advance to the HOSA International Leadership Conference, which will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 17-20.

Here is a list of the competitors from Eastlake High School (EHS), International Community School (ICS), Juanita High School (JHS), Lake Washington High School (LWHS) and WANIC who finished in the top ten along with their category and placement:

ATC Allied Health Statistics

• Second Place - LWHS, Anjitha Gurrala

ATC Anatomy and Physiology

• Second Place - LWHS, Neha Dhariwal

ATC Biology

• Seventh Place - LWHS, Neha Dhariwal

ATC Environmental Health

• Tenth Place - ICS, Emiliano Aquino

ATC Human Heredity

• Fifth Place - LWHS, Leanna Dsouza

ATC Math for Health Professionals

• Tenth Place - LWHS, Tanvi Varangaonkar

ATC-AAFP Family Medicine Career Test

• First Place - ICS, Prabhav Mannam
• Fifth Place - ICS, Ella Schulman

Allied Health Statistics

• Eighth Place - JHS, Lakshmi Narlapuram
• Ninth Place - JHS, Konan Humphrey

Anatomy

• Eighth Place - JHS, Barun Acharya

Behavioral Health

• First Place - ICS, Samuel Friend

Biochemistry

• Eighth Place - JHS, Caroline Zhu

Biomedical Equipment Technician

• First Place - ICS, Leland Cartier
• Second Place - EHS, Vanshika Sathish

Biotechnology

• Ninth Place - EHS, Akshath Monikandan

CERT Skills

• Fourth Place - EHS, Sneha Manivel, Mahika Tanpure
• Seventh Place - WANIC, Bhuvanesh Kokku

CPR/First Aid

• First Place - EHS, Anushka Yakkali, Aeona Mahalingashetty

Clinical Laboratory Science

• First Place - EHS, Ankita Datta
• Third Place - LWHS, Andrew Wang
• Fourth Place - EHS, Gia Kim

Clinical Specialty

• First Place - EHS, Aaratrika Paul
• Second Place - LWHS, Audrey Chan
• Sixth Place - EHS, Neya Jayanth
• Seventh Place - EHS, Kashvi Takrani

Community Awareness

• First Place - EHS, Rianna Mohindra, Parinitha Cheluva
• Second Place - EHS, Aishwarya Sreenivas, Inchara Aradhya

Creative Problem Solving

• First Place - EHS, Aavid Mathrawala, Dhruv Ajjarapu
• Sixth Place - LWHS, Akshara Kolli, Neha Dhariwal, Dhyuthi Diwakar

Dental Science

• First Place - EHS, Benjamin Baik
• Second Place - EHS, Justin Liu
• Third Place - EHS, Anvi Pahwa
• Fourth Place - EHS, Praveit Suhas
• Seventh Place - WANIC, Casey Lai
• Eighth Place - WANIC, Ashley Min

Dental Terminology

• First Place - EHS, Justin Liu
• Second Place - ICS, Emily Zhang
• Fourth Place - EHS, Benjamin Baik
• Fifth Place - WANIC, Nitya Anand

Dynamic Decisions

• Second Place - ICS, Devyanshi Sharma, Anushka Gandhi, Aarini Garg, Shashvi Pandya, Laya Balakrishnan

Emergency Medical Technician

• Seventh Place - JHS, Maxi Sosa, Sai Sankara

Environmental Health

• Eighth Place - JHS, Vihaan Rawal

Epidemiology

• First Place - JHS, Barun Acharya
• Second Place - EHS, Arnav Vishwakarma
• Eighth Place - EHS, Aishwarya Sreenivas

Extemporaneous Writing-Health Policy

• Sixth Place - EHS, Akshath Monikandan

Family Medicine Physician

• Fourth Place - JHS, Rachael Rose
• Eighth Place - LWHS, Aashi Khandelwal

Forensic Science

• Second Place - LWHS, Kushal Gurram, Nitin Dilip
• Fourth Place - EHS, Jyothir Gopavaram, Andrew Wang
• Seventh Place - EHS, Sahana Prakash, Neya Jayanth
• Ninth Place - JHS, Oscar Gonzalez, Konan Humphrey
• Tenth Place - LWHS, Prisha Nagapuram, Shuhui Meng

Foundation of Nutrition

• Sixth Place - ICS, Angela Ouyang

Health Career Photography

• Ninth Place - LWHS, Tanvi Varangaonkar

Health Career Preparation

• Second Place - ICS, Mimi Arrabi
• Third Place - ICS, Saisha Kashyap

Health Education

• Third Place - EHS, Pranay Sriram, Mason Beckstead, Arnav Kaja, Mukund Pazhanur Murali
• Fourth Place - LWHS, Anjitha Gurrala, Leanna Dsouza, Mabel Wong, Geethika Burugupally
• Fifth Place - EHS, Nada Abdelreheem, Pehl Agrawal, Neha Murkuri
• Ninth Place - EHS, Krithi Kommidi, Sophia Durrani, Vaishnavi Mukesh, Diya Karimilla, Hala Suliman

Health Informatics

• Second Place - EHS, Ananya Sharma
• Third Place - EHS, Ankita Datta
• Fourth Place - EHS, Diya Babu
• Ninth Place - EHS, Samkit Shah
• Tenth Place - JHS, Vihaan Rawal

Healthcare Administration

• First Place - EHS, Diya Babu
• Seventh Place - EHS, Isha Pattekar

Healthy Living

• First Place - EHS, Ved Kasbekar
• Second Place - EHS, Aaratrika Paul
• Sixth Place - EHS, Arnav Vishwakarma
• Seventh Place - EHS, Akshara Guddeti

History of HOSA

• Fifth Place - JHS, Anushka Pakhare

Home Health Aide

·         Fourth Place - EHS, Jasmine Shi

Human Growth & Development

• Fourth Place - ICS, Samuel Friend

Medical Assisting

• Fourth Place - EHS, Sneha Manivel

Medical Innovation

• First Place - EHS, Shreyas Dudipala, Devarsh Aswin, Arjun Sethupathi
• Third Place - LWHS, Anika Shah, Lahari Nellore
• Ninth Place - EHS, Saanvi Yalamanchili, Kavya Sudhakar

Medical Law and Ethics

• Second Place - EHS, Jerry Liu

Medical Math

• Third Place - EHS, Sophia Li
• Sixth Place - EHS, Jishnu Guthikonda
• Eighth Place - LWHS, Tanvi Varangaonkar
• Ninth Place - EHS, Aadhya Srinivasan

Medical Reading

• Third Place - EHS, Nada Abdelreheem
• Fifth Place - EHS, Saanvi Yalamanchili

Medical Terminology

• Second Place - ICS, Eva Singh
• Fourth Place - EHS, Shaya Ashtiani
• Fifth Place - ICS, Saisha Kashyap

Mental Health Promotion

• Third Place - EHS, Keshia Jain, Jasmine Shi, Ananya Sharma

Microbiology

• Fourth Place - JHS, Elaine Jin

Native Health Advocacy

• First Place - JHS, Chelsea Deason, Fiona Colnick
• Second Place - LWHS, Mabel Wong, Aashi Khandelwal, Nandini Damodaran, Anusha Bharadva

Nutrition

• Second Place - ICS, Emily Zhang
• Fourth Place - EHS, Disha Patil
• Sixth Place - EHS, Neil Rawal

Occupational Therapy

• Sixth Place - JHS, Saanvi Pola

Organic Chemistry

• Second Place - JHS, Caroline Zhu

Pathophysiology

• First Place - ICS, Samuel Friend

Pharmacology

• Second Place - ICS, Emily Zhang
• Eighth Place - ICS, Ikhtyar Esmail

Phlebotomy

• Seventh Place - JHS, Victoria Swiatek

Physics College

• Fifth Place - JHS, Andy Makay
• Sixth Place - JHS, Audrey Pogue

Prepared Speaking

• First Place - ICS, Rohit Cherukuri
• Second Place - JHS, Mithran Vijayanand

Public Health

• Fifth Place - EHS, Medha Munagala, Arnav Katarya, Akshara Kolli
• Ninth Place - LWHS, Ishal Thahir, Plaksha Kanyal, Hamsini Vyakaranam, Sylvia Hahn

Public Service Announcement

• Second Place - EHS, Aarohi Jaygude, Aarya Pathak, Aarush Goyal
• Fifth Place - EHS, Manasu Karanam, Riddhi Jena
• Tenth Place - JHS, Silvia Siicu, Yuna Yamagami, Jaslyn Prim

Research Poster

• Fifth Place - EHS, Akshara Guddeti
• Seventh Place - EHS, Adithya Kiran Somayaji

Sports Medicine

• Second Place - LWHS, Eunjae Jeon
• Fourth Place - EHS, Adya Kidambi
• Sixth Place - LWHS, Maya Blat-Phillips
• Eighth Place - EHS, Bardia Bastani

Veterinary Science

• First Place - EHS, Jade Lam

World Health & Disparaties

• First Place - ICS, Leland Cartier