Special to the Long Beach Breeze
National Beta members from Magnolia Gulf Coast Beta Club (MGC Beta), a group of homeschool students in fourth through twelfth grades from the Gulf Coast area, are celebrating their recent participation in the 31st Annual Mississippi Junior Beta Convention. The students competed in club, team, individual academic, and visual art competitions and placed in several categories at the state convention. Long Beach’s Luke Dillman brought home three visual arts awards, one academic testing award, and he was the captain of the Apparel Design, Service Learning Showcase, and Technology teams.
Winners from MGC Beta included Elementary Division club competitions of Apparel Design (2nd Place), Service Learning Showcase (3rd Place), and Technology (3rd Place), completed by Luke Dillman, Audrey Legg, and Garrett Nelson; Club Trading Pin competition (1st Place), completed by Kaitlyn Atwater, Braxton Bates, Elizabeth Dacus, Madelyn Dillard, Wyatt Nelson and Garrett Nelson; and Junior Division Quiz Bowl (2nd Place), completed by Braxton Bates, Elizabeth Dacus, Kaitlyn Atwater and Wyatt Nelson. Kaitlyn Atwater won 3rd Place for eighth grade Language Arts; Luke Dillman won 1st Place for fourth grade Language Arts; Garrett Nelson won 1st Place for fourth grade Social Studies; and Wyatt Nelson won 2nd Place for sixth grade Science. In the individual visual art competition, Luke Dillman won 1st place in Quilling, 2nd Place in Sculpture, and 4th Place in Painting.
The members who attended were Kaitlyn Atwater, Braxton Bates (MGC JR Club President), Elizabeth Dacus (MGC JR Club Vice-President), Madelyn Dillard (MGC JR Club Secretary), Luke Dillman, Audrey Legg (MGC JR Club Historian), Wyatt Nelson (MGC JR Club Treasurer), and Garrett Nelson (MGC JR Club Chaplain). The sponsors for the group are Maria Dacus and Leslie Bates.
National Beta State Convention allows students the opportunity to compete in various academic and STEM-based, virtual, and performing arts competitions. State Convention was offered as a hybrid event. This gave students the opportunity to compete either virtually or onsite at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center, depending on their level of comfort. Victories at the state level provide an opportunity to compete at the national level. National Convention will be held at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Kentucky, in June.