Katherine Shofner decided to take the Cass High school Beta club to the Beta convention. Last year, the group went as well, however, this time around the group was able to make more preparations before going to the convention. The year before was Shofner first year taking the club to the convention. This year the club sought to improve more in the way they competed. With the hard and diligent work of the Beta’s members, the group managed to have a successful time at the convention. They managed to bring home a variety of rewards, and some members even got the great opportunity to go to nationals in June. Katherine Shofner, the leader of the Beta Club, helped invest a lot of energy and time to help these amazing individuals with their work at Beta-Con.

Beta-Con is a national convention that is held annually, at the convention there are numerous competitions that Beta’s members can compete in. The convention also always has a theme that Beta’s are meant to follow along with while competing. This year the theme was radiate, the theme was put into place because it showcases how beta clubs in Georgia each radiate service, leadership, achievement, and character which are the four pillars of beta. Each Beta Club member demonstrates these four pillars throughout their school. Beta-Con isn’t something every club is required to go to but lots of clubs decide to take their groups for a multitude of reasons. Shofner had her own reason for why she wanted to take her group of kids, “I take my kids because I want them to do something fun like I want them not only to get recognized for being good at what they do but also to hang out and relax,” Shofner explained.

Shofner and Gracen VanHook, a junior at Cass High took control of the management for this trip, they sought out people who were inducted and took charge of helping members of the club participate in the competition of their choice. Each group or individual worked the best they could for what competition they chose to partake in. Seven members ended up scoring really high during their competitions causing them to be rewarded for their great accomplishment with plaques.It was quite impressive how these members managed to take on their competition and score high. Issac Rodriguez and Sophia Martinez won awards for taking the online French test, Emma Brown won an award for Apparel Design, Giovanni Aguilar won an award for performing arts in the vocal division, Connor New’s campaign skit won an award, and finally the last award was given to Bailey Berry for Service showcase. Everyone regardless of having a reward or not did an exceptional job and achieved greatness during the convention.

Coming home with great awards wasn’t the only thing that went well at the convention, Connor New, Cass High School junior and a beta officer also had a very successful campaign while running for Beta state president. For a few months, New had been posting on Instagram trying to win votes; he also got to visit ‘Mceachern’ and speak to their Beta club. He worked very hard to keep his name out there in the Beta world. As conveyed in the last paragraph, his skit for his campaign ended up winning an award. New’s fellow Beta members also helped him with his campaign by going around the convention convincing people to vote for him and wearing shirts in honor of his campaign. Despite not winning, this experience was good for New and the club as a whole. “I didn’t win but, even though I didn’t I would definitely do this 1000 times over. It was a good experience for me as a leader,” New claimed. Despite the loss, the trip was still a productive and fun experience.

The year before was the Shofner first time taking the group to Beta-Con. The club had been to the convention in previous years before Shofner took over. The first time Shofner took the club they still put forth a good effort. The club was able to learn a lot of things and understand what they needed to work towards in order to succeed. Shofner said, “The first year was a learning experience for everyone including me, I think electing Gracen to help really benefited the club more,“ Shofner claimed. With the knowledge of the last Beta-Con and help from Beta Officer, Gracen VanHook, the club was able to see what they needed to work on. The club took a new approach to the convention which proved to be successful in the end. Vanhook said, “We were a lot more prepared this year than last year, and we focused on finding people that are good at specific things for specific competitions.”

Ultimately, the Beta Club made an exceptional effort to make sure they were successful as a group. The effort put forward really pays off for the club and its members in the end. The students were granted great opportunities to show off their talents and make some new friends, and as Shofner wanted, they got to have lots of fun. From year to year, this organization will only grow and more and more members will get to experience Beta Con and each year our club will become more successful!