The students will be taking part in academic contests, talent competitions, arts and crafts displays, general sessions and leadership seminars on November 18-19 at the Macon Centreplex Coliseum, Convention Center, and Macon Marriott City Center Ballrooms. Registration begins at 9:00 am on Thursday, November 18 in the Convention Center lobby.
Glen Stribling, Executive Director of the Georgia Junior Beta Club, shared that Macon has three key elements in setting the stage for the convention's success. "Macon's central location in the state, good meeting facilities, and reputation for treating us well keep us coming back year after year to hold our convention," according to Stribling.
The National Beta Club is the largest independent, non-profit, educational youth organization in America created in 1934 in Spartanburg, SC with 6 million alumni to date. In 1961, The National Beta Club created the Junior Beta Club to reach out to fifth through ninth grade students. Melody Cooper, Membership Director of the National Beta Club, revealed that Georgia maintains the highest Junior Beta Club participation in the nation with 43,276 members in 910 clubs.
According to the organization's mission statement, each Beta Club is to promote the ideals of character, service and leadership among elementary and secondary school students, to reward meritorious achievement and to encourage and assist students in continuing their education after high school. The 2010 national service project for the National Junior Beta Club is to raise $400,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Macon is expected to host the Georgia Junior Beta Club's convention through 2011.
