Students decorate Christmas cards at the Beta Club Kickoff for Ukrainian orphans. Following the Beta announcements, students were given the opportunity to complete one of their service projects through Engraved, an organization supporting poverty-stricken children in eastern Europe.
photo by Macy Dutton
Beta revamps after the new sponsor, Cheryl Richard, provides innovative ideas on how to get out of the “COVID funk.”
Over two years ago, Beta Club was struck with a predicament: leaving their club with endless questions or to try to make the best of their situation. COVID guidelines restricted many aspects important to the club. Without in-person meetings, guiding the club became a daunting task for the leadership. A club that was once grounded in socialization and service was forced to utilize online videos with limited opportunity to impact the community.
“COVID definitely negatively impacted Beta due to the limited ways we were able to serve in the community during that time,” Beta Club President Lilee Fry said. “It no doubt made it harder for students to find opportunities, and therefore forced us to give some slack on a lot of our requirements, such as time requirements [for service projects].”
Two years later, as COVID’s grasp on America slips away, COVID restrictions are also fading. With nothing suppressing the socialization aspect of Beta Club, improvements can now be set in motion. Former Chess Club sponsor Mrs. Richard saw the plea for help and immediately decided to invest her time into rejuvenating the club.
“I have a passion for building and developing leaders,” Mrs. Richard said. “I saw this as an opportunity to lead our Beta members out of COVID times and help them become reinvigorated about service projects again. . . After selecting the team of officers for this 2022/2023 year, I saw the potential to extraordinarily impact our members, the club and our community.”
Mrs. Richard plans to improve previous club guidelines. Finding ways to make an interactive club COVID friendly proved very difficult. However, now students are accustomed to just watching EdPuzzle videos and turning in their service projects. This year, Beta’s goal is to gradually raise expectations back to pre-COVID levels.
“Now that COVID restrictions are lifting, it is time for us to get into action,” Mrs. Richard said. “We are launching into our community. This year, we are making many changes to support our mission of reinvigorating the club and reemphasizing service in our community.”
Changes announced at the Beta Club kickoff meeting include increased frequency of in-person meetings, service projects opportunities at the meetings and a new project database for members. Mrs. Richard encourages students to be proactive in joining Beta Club.
“If students haven’t already, get that cumulative GPA up to a 3.7, and come along with us on this ride,” Mrs. Richard said. “Join in. Participate. Lead. Grow. The more service projects we do, the more opportunities we have for God to shine.”
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