A pair of twins with a toothsome background are among Watauga High School's high-achieving health-occupations students.
Robert and Debin Warren, twin children of local dentist and school board member Lee Warren and his wife Debbie Warren, were among the students placing in a bumper crop of Health Occupation Students of America successes in recent competitions.
"We had all of our students place in the Top Ten, and that's really remarkable," said Watauga's health sciences instructor Regina Alford.
The twins, both seniors, hope to go to national competition this school year, a process that continues through next summer. Robert is already a veteran, having competed for four years, while Debin entered her first competition last year. Robert took first place at both the state and regional levels in Medical Math and eventually placed third in the nation during last summer's competition in Nashville, Tenn. He also placed first in Medical Math this year at the regional level, during competitions held Nov. 11 in Morganton.
His goal is to prepare and compete in the national competition again this year. He hopes to become a surgeon, though he hasn't decided on a specialty yet, and plans to attend Wake Forest University.
Debin finished first in the state in her inaugural try in the Dental Assistant competition as a junior. Debin, who already works some in her father's Boone office, plans on attending East Tennessee State University and getting a four-year degree so she can teach dental hygiene.
Debin had to take written tests as well as compete in a judged demonstration in which she presented education on proper brushing and flossing. While she hasn't received the results of this year's competition, she hopes to repeat her first-place success of last year.
Debin said there was some friendly competition between the twins, especially since she did so well on her first try while Robert has been competing since his freshman year.
Robert described medical math as a blend of algebra and calculus, primarily used to figure out the proper flow rates to prescribe accurate dosage levels for intravenous fluids, antibiotics and drugs.
Though their father is an ardent University of North Carolina Tarheels fan, they say they were neither pressured to pursue medicine, or dentistry in particular, nor to attend UNC.
"He helped me explore different fields of medicine," Robert said. "But I told him ASU (Appalachian State University) is my fallback if I don't get into Wake. I don't want to go to UNC."
Debin said her father neither encouraged or discouraged her potential career path, instead letting her work in the office and learn about dental hygiene if she wished.
Other winners and categories from the Nov. 11 regional competition include:
First place--Sarah Eggers (Medical Photography), Alex Vines (Sports Medicine); Second place--Hannah Denney (Nursing Assistant), Deanna Reary (Medical Photography); Third place--Chelsea Norris (Nursing); Fourth Place--Emily Alford (Sports Medicine), Shannon Heiden (Medical Math); Top Ten--Hannah Padgent (Medical Terminology), Harriett Myers (Medical Poster), and Cody Snyder (Medical Poster).
Alford noted the entire health-services class had success despite the competition, with more than 12,000 students in the HOSA contests.