Top state winners:  Brianna Thomson and Morghan Neuhofer, sophomores at South Lake High School in Groveland, recently placed third at the 2016 Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) State Leadership Conference with their Certified Emergency Response Team (CERT) skills.

One of my passions: I’m really passionate about school and my extracurricular activities of weightlifting and HOSA. I put my all into both of them.

Favorite subject: Science. I really like learning how things work, especially when it comes to the human body and how it does everything.

An exciting moment: Winning third at state HOSA just blew my mind. It was the most exciting thing. It was our first year to compete, our first year in HOSA, and we were just surprised to be able to go to state after getting second place in regionals.

Best advice ever received: “Everything happens for a reason; just trust that everything will work out in the end.” It was advice from my mom at a time when I was really down. Now I tell myself that almost every day.

Role models in life: My mom because she helps me in everything, and also my dad. He’s smart.

If I could trade place with someone for a day: I would trade places with Carrie Underwood because she’s beautiful, really nice, and she’s a great singer.

Goals and dreams: To go to the University of Florida, and become a pediatric surgeon helping a bunch of kids. I would love to cure a disease that has never been cured; I want to help as many people as I can.

Credit my success to: Just about everybody in my life—my friends, parents, my sister—and they all told me, “You can do this!” They helped me study (for emergency response training) and my 10-year-old sister was my mannequin person for a skit we had to do. She laid on the floor and I would tell her, “OK. I’m wrapping up your wounds now.”

Favorite quote: “Everything happens for a reason.”

photo: fred lopez