Featured Image: Shanna Clerjuste’s Entry for Apparel Design
As the end of the 2025-2026 school year draws ever closer, many clubs and organizations prepare for their final (and most important) competitions and contests. One of these groups is the Greenwood High School Beta Club, which is sending members to the annual Beta convention.
Beta Convention (in this particular case State Convention) is a competition where students from schools all across Kentucky come together to compete in a variety of competitions over the course of three days. The categories range from fashion to speeches to performance and academics. Many of these challenges were months in the making, requiring students to create artwork, prepare for tests, or rehearse scenes and dances for hours.
While March looms ever closer, this year’s Beta president, Shanna Clerjuste (a junior), looks forward to this year’s convention, as well as competing in several competitions including Technology, Marketing and Communications, and Fashion Apparel Design. Clerjuste notes a particular excitement in her apparel design (the feature picture of this article), stating that “it would be really nice if I came in first.” She also notes a particular excitement for convention as a whole, including this year’s team, even though she admits this year’s group is slightly smaller than years past.
This year’s competition follows a change in Beta sponsors, but that fact doesn’t stop Mrs. Samantha Caldwell from looking forward to seeing what students have in store. Mrs. Caldwell notes that she is particularly excited to see what people have been working on this year, stating that the students going to convention this year were “very self-paced and self-motivated,” and that she is “very excited to see the final product of what they’ve made.”
Beta is going to convention from March 4th-March 6th in the 2026 school year. That said, if you are already hoping to go next year, there is good news in store. Beta alone is a prestigious program, and convention only adds to this success. When asked about unique academic benefits, Mrs. Caldwell claimed that convention tests unique parts of the academic experience that do not usually get the spotlight. Meanwhile, Clerjuste gives advice directly for anyone looking to try out next year. “Just relax. The judges are there. They aren’t meanies who want to critique you. They’re just here to see your creativity and how hard you worked on your project.”
Beta Convention is an exciting time for members and sponsors alike, a three-day chance to try new things and show results months in the making. As this year’s competitions looms overhead, hopes are high that the 25-26 Greenwood High School Beta Convention team lands among the stars, has fun, and, perhaps most important of all, learns something new.
