Feb. 10-11 marks the first time the Spartanburg High School Beta Club has competed in the State Beta Club Convention. The Convention is held every year at the Hilton Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C. There are three main categories at the Convention, and each competition is divided into online, hybrid and onsite. Online is exclusively virtual, hybrid is the competitor’s choice and onsite must be presented in person at the Convention. Scholars from all over South Carolina come to show off their talents in a variety of different competitions.

The contests at the convention range from academic to fine arts. Some examples of these categories include performing arts, musicology, book battle, agriscience and speech. Most of the academic tests are online, meaning the competitors complete their tests before they arrive at the convention. Spartanburg High School’s Beta Club had members who participated in academic, poetry, spelling bee and musicology tests a week before the convention. They worked diligently to prepare for these competitions.

Alex Tufino (10), one of the club members that took a Spanish test to compete, was excited to go to the Convention.

“This year I competed in the Spanish portion of the competition. Honestly, I felt really good about it because I already speak Spanish, so I have that on my side, but also it wasn’t very hard.  I have never been to the Convention before, so this was my first time, and I was really excited for it,” Tufino said.

During the Convention, contestants were permitted to meet and mingle with students from different schools and make new friends.

Saniyah Zubair (10) competed for the first time this year. Zubair was looking forward to stepping out of her comfort zone when she entered the individual speech competition.

“I had not attended one of these Conventions before. This was my first time. I competed in the speech event. My speech talked about the way students such as myself were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Zubair said.

Jade Eaves, chemistry teacher and Beta Club adviser, led the team this year. She has gone to the Convention for the past five years, but this was her first time going with Spartanburg High School. Eaves’ previous school went every year, and she was excited to see all her old friends again. Eaves was a constant source of support, always ready to cheer on her students from the crowd during the competition.

“My favorite part of the Convention was seeing my students meeting new people and getting to see all my Beta Club friends from other schools. I think the students really enjoyed themselves at the Convention. Some were already talking about making plans for next year’s Convention. They were talking about what they are going to improve on and the different competition they wanted to compete in,” Eaves said. “It was nice to go and just get a feel for it since SHS has never gone before. The students have a better idea of what the judges are looking for now, and we are excited to bring home a lot more awards next year!”