GCMS attends Jr BETA Convention
Snow Hill - Earlier this month, the Greene County Middle School (GCMS) Jr. BETA Club attended the North Carolina State Junior BETA Convention. This was the fifth time the club has taken part at the convention, with the past two years virtual. 29 students attended this year’s convention competing in over 10 different events. The club has been a national title holder and state title holder in several areas and this year, while they did not come in first, the club placed high in a couple of areas.
Alyssa Beaman, eighth grader at GCMS, placed third in the English/Language Arts Academic Test. The communications and marketing team placed sixth out of the 90 participating schools. The engineering team placed 10th and the robotics showcase team came in 16th. The club was awarded a growth award for increasing in size and attendance at the convention.
Students were overheard saying, “this was a lot of fun,” and, “I can’t wait until next year.”
Club Co- Sponsor and first time Convention Attendee Lori Kearney stated, “I am amazed at the size and scope of the convention. The talents of these students are impressive.”
Athletic Director Jayme Tilley helped to chaperone the trip, said “It’s pretty cool to see the size of the convention. This is like the super bowl for academics.”
The JR BETA club at GCMS has been invited to attend the National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky this June. A decision on if they will attend has not been made yet, but these students are sure to represent Greene County well no matter where they go.
The Jr Beta Club was established at GCMS in 1986 and for the last five years has expanded to close to 150 members. Students must maintain an 80% (B) overall average and have no grade lower than 80 on their report card to participate in the club. Students are chosen also based not only on their academic performance but also by recommendations from their teachers, their citizenship and behavior at the school.
Principal Diane Blackman has commented, “these students represent the very best of Greene County Middle School.”
Since 2018, the Club has provided collectively close to 1000 hours of community service to the Greene County Community.
If you would like to support the club in their endeavors or have a service project that the students could participate in for you, please contact Club Advisors Matthew Lococo at GCMS.
With more than 500,000 active members and 9,000 clubs nationally and internationally, National Beta has become the nation’s largest independent, non-profit, educational youth organization. National Beta promotes the ideals of academic achievement, character, service, and leadership among elementary and secondary school students. National Junior Beta includes grades 4-8 and National Senior Beta includes grades 9-12. Visit betaclub.org for more information.
Neuse News is a locally-owned small business startup in downtown Kinston. Our goal is to provide free, hyper-local news to Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties. The kind of news our grandparents read in a format fit for today's times.
We provide this by having supportive advertisers and we encourage you to click on their ads, shop with them, and eat with them. Every bit of financial support is important to help us sustain free, hyper-local news.
Please consider supporting Neuse News with as little as $5 one-time or via a monthly option. Every little bit helps us, help you.
