Beta Club Excels at Nationals

Four Jasper County High School students attended and competed at the Beta Club National Convention in Orlando, Fla. June 29 through July 2.

In order to qualify for the national competition, these students originally placed second overall at the state convention in the Beta Build competition in Savannah. Beta Build is an engineering style challenge where teams of 3-5 have two hours to create an invention to achieve a given goal; inventions must have at least five steps.

At the national convention, rising seniors Alina Jablonski and Meghan Terry and rising juniors Ciara Christopher and McKenzie Ledford competed in both the Beta Build competition and the Meeting of the Minds competition (a competition offered only at the Nationals level).

The Meeting of the Minds competition is where “students will be given a problem that requires brain calisthenics to develop a reasonable plan and conclusion.” This year, the students were given two hours to create a complete card game from scratch with a targeted audience; there were approximately 30-40 teams competing.

The Jasper County team placed third overall in the Meeting of the Minds National competition and were awarded a national trophy. In order to attend the national convention, these students raised over $2,000 including generous donations from many local businesses.

Reflecting on the experience, upcoming junior Ciara Christopher stated “BETA Nationals was definitely an experience to never forget.

Building close relationships with my close friends and teacher. It makes me proud to be a part of something so big from such a small town. Competing is a passion and love I have and I am glad to have had the opportunity to do it.”

Fellow team member McKenzie Ledford stated “BETA Nationals was definitely a different experience from any other competition I had done before. I grew closer to the girls by having to pull through tougher objectives than we expected all while coming together as a team.”

Sponsor Christie McAlum added “It has been an incredible year–our Beta Club has not attended state or national convention in at least 15 years; to go and place both at state and at the national level is super exciting; I am very proud of these outstanding students—both their inventiveness and their teamwork!”