JCHS Beta Club Excels at Nationals
On June 30, the Jasper County High School Beta Canes travelled to Nashville, Tn. to compete at the Beta National Convention.
With the exception of a few nationals-only events, in order to compete at nationals you must place at the state level. The majority of events at nationals have between 40-50 entries. JCHS Beta qualified to compete in: Banner, Engineering, Group Performance, Living Literature, Marketing and Communications, Robotics, Show Choir, Skit (Character Performance), Speech, and Visual Arts (Digital Art, Drawing, Mixed Media, and Woodworking).
They also competed in the following nationals-only events: Meeting of the Minds and Recreate, Reimagine, Recycle.
Jasper County High School Beta club placed in five events nationally: 2nd place for Reimagine, Recreate, Recycle, 3rd place for Speech Division I, 6th place group talent, 7th place for skit (character performance), 8th place for show choir, and 10th place for marketing and communications.
In addition to the convention itself, the JCHS beta group went to The Grand Ole Opry and enjoyed artists from Brett Edlredge, John Conlee, Lainey Wilson, and more.
On July 4th, they headed downtown to the “Let Freedom Sing” show in downtown Nashville which was headlined by Old Dominion. It ended with a 30-minute long spectacular fireworks show on the river. On the way home, the club stopped for some sweet treats at Jeremiah’s Italian Ice owned by Monticello transplant Denny Axmen.
When asked about the convention experience, junior Adelyn Walls said “Nationals gave me an amazing chance to meet new people in beta across the country and show what our club can achieve”. Bryant Harrison (junior) shared “Beta Convention is awesome! I’m very glad to have gone. I grew closer to my friends and developed new skills for next year and the years to come.”.
Junior TarevaChine Lightfoot said “After singing with the show choir performance, I got this whole tingly feeling and the best moment was how everyone felt afterwards and seeing everyone with a big smile on their face as they jumped up and down and saying ‘we did it’.” Isabella Waddell shared “being able to perform my culture on a big stage and the love I have for it is truly a blessing and I will cherish the feelings and memories I made in the making of such a beautiful production.”
Sponsor Cheryl Jacobs said “my favorite part of the convention is watching the joy and excitement from these students when they compete. They were thrilled to be competing with the best of the best. Every student represented Jasper County well and for that, we are so proud.”
To steal this year’s convention theme, we truly are “Beta together”. A special thanks to our community’s generous support as well as our superintendent, Kenny Garland, and principal Jim Strength.
The Beta club is sponsored by Cheryl Jacobs, Christie McAlum, and Rhonda McFarland; convention advisors include Caleb Fontaine and Wade Clemons. Matt Tumlin drove the bus and chaperoned; Dotty Dalton served as a chaperone. Until next year in Kentucky!
