 Recently, a soon-to-be freshman at Pikeville High School was accepted to attend a leadership conference in Washington, D.C. Jayden White was nominated by one of his teachers to attend the Junior National Young Leaders Conference at the end of June. During the trip, White will be learning valuable leadership skills and making connections that will help him later in life. I'm going for the Junior Leadership Program that I was selected for. At the beginning, I was a little bit nervous. I had to read up on all the schedules and learn a lot of things, but eventually, I started easing into it. Now I think I'm fully prepared for what I assume to be an amazing time. I think that the way that the program is set up, that it can make room for more extra activities and that the workshops could help me find jobs or be able to be more experienced and get more opportunities such as this. Cancer is a very scary word, but an outstanding treatment facility was here at home. I was led to the Lawson Cancer Center. As a nurse practitioner at the Lawson Cancer Center, we are champions for our patients. I am so happy for Robert. The treatment worked. The support from White's teachers, friends and family has been overwhelming as the trip comes closer. His mother is just as excited as he is for this opportunity. Right now, his aspirations are absolutely amazing. He's got a great future ahead of him, and just to be able to participate, to be nominated, it really gets to show him what we get to see in him every single day because it's hard to see that within yourself and especially at the young age of 14 and being a teenager. That's a difficult time in general. So it's always good to have that support and to kind of have that confirmation that he gets to go where he needs to be and he deserves this amazing opportunity. And we are so thankful for Pipeville High School for his teachers to be able to give him that opportunity. Jaden is just so incredibly talented. Just anything that Jaden gets involved in, he gives 110 percent. His determination is amazing and he is so smart and no matter what, he's going to excel in everything he does. Reporting from Outantop News, I'm Nick Colum.