The Elbert County Middle School Beta Club broke school records during the Georgia Junior Beta Convention Nov. 27 through Nov. 29 in Savannah as they received awards in 11 different categories, five of which they were crowned the champions.
Both the 11 wins and five first place finishes were the highest amounts from one single convention.
The club placed in the following categories with the following student participants:
• Book Battle – first place – Chloe David, Levi Wilkes and Adrian Jenkins;
• Math Test – first place – Adrian Jenkins;
• Scrapbook – first place – Natalie Evans, Amy Norman, Jasmine Ellison, Cassidy James, Ayden Evans, Arabella Garcia, Caraleigh Brown, Peyton Roach, Chloe David, Hadley Marunich, Taylor Evans, Emma Engelhardt, Seeley Stelter, Sequoia Singleton and Grace Anna Slaton;
• Performing Arts – first place – Jaukeen Fortson;
• Robotics Showcase – first place – Cooper Jenkins, Harrison Ray, Skyler Glmore, Levi Wiles, Ori Williams, Adrian Jenkins, Kale Hall and Chloe David;
• Living Literature – second place – Cooper Jenkins, Levi Wiles, Ayden Evans, Jasmine Ellison, Natalie Evans, Peyton Roach, Kale Hall, Chloe David, Hadley Marunich, Grace Anna Slaton, Seeley Stelter, Harrison Ray
• Apparel Design – second place – Ayden Evans, Cooper Jenkins, Jasmine Ellison, Chloe David, Caraleigh Brown, Peyton Jenkins and Elbert County Comprehensive High School student/coach Kennedy Ray;
• Mixed Media – fourth place – Cooper Jenkins;
• Quiz Bowl – fourth place – Harrison Ray, Adrian Jenkins, Kaylee Harvey and Jibril Engelhardt; and
• On Site Drawing – fifth place – Seeley Stelter.
All of the winners will have the chance to compete on the national level during the 2024 National Junior Convention in Savannah June 10 through June 13.
"I can't express how proud we are of these Betas," Sponsor Angela Scoggins said.
"They put in a lot of prep work for months beforehand and went to Savannah and represented their school and club well."
ECMS Principal Donna Baker said she was proud of the work the students put in to receive the record-breaking statewide awards.
"I'm super proud of them," Baker said. "They not only showed up and showed out, they broke records, two records. 11 awards and five first place. This group is a special group, and I'm thankful for all the hard work they put in. I saw it when I was here over Thanksgiving break and them working, or after school staying and working. Hard work definitely pays off. And I'm very thankful for Mrs. Scoggins for all she has done over the many years that she has been part of this program and pray that she continues."
Book Battle
Sixth grader Levi Wiles, who was one of the participants in the Book Battle trio, said the group had to read 12 books, in around a five month span, to prepare for the competition that included a 30 minute, 60-question virtual test.
Wiles said his favorite book of the dozen was "Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief."
"It felt good [to win]," Wiles said.
Math Test
Eighth grader Adrian Jenkins took a 30-minute, 50-question virtual math test. While the test was based on eighth grade math curriculum, Jenkins said the test didn't follow only Georgia standards.
"You kind of have to prepare yourself for almost everything in a way," Jenkins said. "You've got to adapt to anything."
Scoggins said this was the third year in a row that Jenkins had placed in the category, sweeping his middle school career.
Scrapbook
Eighth grader Anna Grace Slaton said the club members who participated on the club scrapbook began working in late September and worked tirelessly through Thanksgiving break to finish before convention.
The scrapbook included chronological photos of events and service projects that took place from the end of the 2022 convention through just before the 2023 convention.
"I was so happy," Slaton said.
Performing Arts
Eighth grader Jaukeem Fortson was also invited to be a Premier Performer, which sets him as one of the opening performers during the national convention. Forston competed with the song "Easy on Me" by Adele.
"He sang twice, but the second time, and this happened last year too, just from the time he sang it Monday night to the time he sang it again on Tuesday at 1 p.m., the changes that he made just put it over the top, over the top on Tuesday," Scoggins said of Fortson's performance.
Forston said winning the award, and placing for the third consecutive year, "meant a lot" and that he's excited for the opportunity to perform as well as compete on the national level.
Robotics Showcase
Seventh grader Harrison Ray participated in the robotics showcase where students were tasked with building and coding a robot to "move, sort and stack."
The group built the robot with Legos and then put it together with the coding that sorted other Legos by color.
Ray said his favorite part of the competition was "hanging out with everyone" in the competition area.
"Definitely hanging out with everyone and talking about and looking at other people's designs and what they decided to come up with," Ray said.
Living Literature
Seventh grader Chloe David was one of several students who participated in the Living Literature category, which included recreating a scene from a book. This year the group chose to do "Captain Underpants: When Aliens Attack."
"We were trying to pick one that would involved a lot of people and that a lot of people would know about," David said as the reason for choosing "Captain Underpants."
Along with morph suits and handmade masks portraying the characters, the extensive set included walls of handdrawn comics from the book.
Students had one hour to set up the scene and had to stay in a posed, quiet, position for an extended perioid of time for judges to review their scene.
"A special thanks to Megan Ray and Christy David. These two ladies took the Living Literature competition on and did an amazing job," Scoggins said. "They spent months getting everything together for the scene, costumes and practicing with the students. I am so Thankful for these two and everything they do for our club. They always go above and beyond."
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Wiles, Jenkins, Slaton, Fortson, Ray and David said being a Beta Club member "means a lot" to them as students and that Scoggins "is the best sponsor."
"I really enjoy being able to help others with Beta, but also being able to compete, personally, is also really enjoyable," Jenkins said. "I like that Beta has both of those aspects. And of course, it's really nothing without Mrs. Scoggins because she pioneers all of it and really gets us to do all the work. I really appreciate her for that."
"Beta is really just a great opportunity to engage in activities. One, you've got to have the grades for it and the four pillars of Beta – Achievement, Character, Leadership and Service. You've got to have all of those and you've just got to lead others," Ray added. "We really couldn't do this without parent volunteers to help and the great sponsor, Mrs. Scoggins."
"It means a lot because we get to go with kids from our community in Elbert County and we realized we make friends there, even from kids in our county because we just never really talk to them enough," David said.
"It's a privilege to be in Beta because you have to have all these amazing things and because kids look up at you because they're like 'Oh that's a Beta kid' or 'That's a Beta officer.' I feel like it's just like an honor," Slaton said.
Baker said she's thankful for the opportunities the Beta Club and Scoggins have afforded students over the years.
"Most things in school, they talk about the athletes and the band or the chorus and all these extracurricular things that they do, but a lot of time academics doesn't get celebrated or doesn't get as much time or effort put into," Baker said. "I think that's one cool thing in all the years that Angela has been here, our Beta has shined and students have come out of their shells. I think it is related to the experiences and things she's given y'all to participate in and then you realize your value and how much you do have to offer."
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Along with the group of students, parent chaperones who attended the trip included David Slaton, Christy David, Megan Ray, Michelle Hall, Amy Brown, Marti Wiles, Hannah Jenkins, Tina Hood, Savannah Garcia, Breanna Evans, Krystle Kurtz and Lashanna Allen.
"A huge thanks to all of our parent chaperones. Without them, we couldn't take this number of kids to the Convention," Scoggins said.
The ECMS club is sponsored by Scoggins, Amber Trotter and Marie Roach.