Susanne Griffin
Contributor
Six members of the MCHS Beta Club qualified to attend the National Convention in Orlando. Skylar Kemp, DeAriel Allen, and Kourtney Kegler competed at the Beta Leadership Summit in October of 2020. Their winning virtual presentation in the Service Snapshot Competition qualified the MCHS club to compete at Nationals. In addition, Yanet Serrano, Jasmine Bryan, and Jessica Hasty competed in individual competitions at the State Level (virtual) competition and were also given the opportunity to attend Nationals.
This is the third year in a row that the MCHS Beta Club has qualified to attend the National Beta Club Convention. Two years ago, a group traveled to Oklahoma City, Okla., to compete. Last year, the club qualified to attend Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas, but the Convention was cancelled due to COVID. This year, the National Convention was held in Orlando, Fla., at the Swan and Dolphin Resort, from Friday, June 25, to Monday, June 28. The six girls were chaperoned by their sponsor, Mrs. Susanne Griffin, Mr. Ray Griffin, and Ms. Peggy Hasty.
This year's theme of the convention was "It All Began With Beta" and was attended by Beta Club groups from 18 states.
After checking in and registering on Friday, June 25, the girls visited Disney Springs for a few hours. Their first competition was "Reimagine, Recreate, Recycle." Jessica Hasty, Jasmine Bryan, and Yanet Serrano created a sea turtle prior to arriving. For this competition, clubs had to construct any animal, using only recyclable materials. The three girls then had to meet with judges to explain their creations and answer any questions. This exhibition "showcased Betas' cooperative teamwork, creativity, and knowledge in STEM."
The girls attended the first general session of the convention later in the evening, where they listened to National vice-president campaign speeches and skits, learned of the National Scholarship Recipients, and then voted for the National Vice-President.
The second day of the convention began with the Second General Session (Sponsor of the Year award, President Campaign Rally, some award presentations, and the performing arts finals). After lunch, the girls competed in the Service Snapshot Expo. Five girls (Bryan, Allen, Serrano, Kemp, and Kegler) presented the MCHS Clothes Closet service project that they have been working on this year. They showed their display board and each girl explained a bit about their project, such as how the Closet started and the progress that has been made thus far.
The Service Snapshot Competition guidelines included:
• identifying a need in the community
• describing the plan of action and how the club carried out the service project
• creating a visual logo
• create a visual presentation
They were judged on creativity of the project, collaboration of the club, communication of ideas, presentation skills, and logo design. The educational connections were leadership skills, creativity and innovation, community service, and critical thinking and problem solving.
“Seeing so many young teens in the community pushing towards something positive was an eye opener.” Said Historian Kourtney Kegler. “Just simply learning about the Beta history was great. Seeing a well- founded organization for academics is what I would call motivation.”
Although this was certainly an entire club effort, only five members could present. After the competition, they again went to Disney Springs, where Jasper native and North Florida Junior College alum Chef Art Smith had made reservations for the group at his restaurant, Homecomin'. At dinner, the waiter announced to the group that they placed in the Top Ten in the Nation in the Reimagine, Recreate, Recycle competition. (Ms. Griffin had met earlier with the waiter to inform him of this honor and arranged for him to bring celebratory cake and ice cream!)
On Sunday, June 27, they attended the Third General Session (Secretary Campaign Rally, Awards, Performing Arts Top 5, Voting). It was at this presentation that the Beta girls learned that they won fourth in the Nation in the Service Snapshot Competition. Senior Jasmine Bryan accepted the award on stage on behalf of the entire MCHS organization. After receiving their award, the group decided to visit the Florida Mall to celebrate their National victory. Then, from 5 p.m. until midnight, Universal hosted a special Beta Night, where Betas from all over the nation enjoyed their favorite Universal rides and theme park food.
On Monday, June 28, the closing ceremony was held, and Jessica Hasty, 2020-2021 MCHS Beta Club president, accepted the National Finalist plaque for the Reimagine, Recreate, Recycle competition. The installation of the National Officers was held, the Leadership Representatives were sworn in, and the Show Choir Finals were held. “It was an honor to represent Madison County High School at the national level and get to place in each division we entered. Being able to compete together and work together on our projects helped us to grow as leaders,” said Beta President Jessica Hasty. “Now we will be able to bring that quality back to Madison County High School.”
Senior secretary Jasmine Bryan is grateful for the MCHS Beta club, saying, “Beta club has helped me grow in so many ways. It has helped me meet new people as well as complete different types of projects.” Specifically on the convention, Bryan enjoyed the variety and uniqueness of Beta, as she has taken part in other scholarly competitions and conventions that were not as interesting as this one.
“I am so very proud of these ladies. They represented Madison and MCHS very well, and they made school history by being the first (to my knowledge) to win awards at the Beta Club National level. First of all, we would like to thank everyone who has already donated items for this worthwhile project. We would like to thank Ms. Shandi Kemp for the grill donation (we had a raffle on the grill to raise money for the trip). Thanks also goes to Ms. Beth Moore, chef extraordinaire, for cooking chicken and rice for another fundraiser. Special thanks to the Kiwanis Club for treating us to lunch, allowing us to share our project with you, and donating funds to our mission. Thanks to our school administration, the District School Board, and our superintendent for allowing us to travel and compete at Nationals. Thanks also goes to our school student body, faculty, staff, and community for purchasing chocolate, dinners, and raffle tickets that helped us gain funds for this expensive trip. We appreciate and thank our chaperones, Ms. Peggy Hasty and Mr. Ray Griffin. And, of course, thanks to the parents for allowing their children to invest time, energy, and money to this event,” said Griffin.
The MCHS Beta Club is still accepting clothes, shoes, school supplies, and/or personal hygiene items. They can also use financial donations to upgrade their Clothes Closet. They desperately need more racks, shelves, and a corner dressing room. Please contact Ms. Susanne Griffin, sponsor, at (850)-973-5777 or any MCHS Beta Club member. If you know of someone who could benefit from this Clothes Closet, please reach out!
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