Beta Club’s main purpose is to lead by serving others. It’s a club full of students that are determined to help the community in any way possible. This club is the largest independent, non-profit, educational youth organization in America; it has been around for eighty years serving the community. Due to Covid, Beta Club students did not have many opportunities last year. That wasn’t the case for this year, however. One of the HHS Beta Club sponsors, Mrs. Hayen, gave us some insight on the activities they did. “This year the Club has volunteered for teachers, helped out other clubs and sports teams on campus, and volunteered at the middle school. Students also helped with Thomas the Train, snack packing, Angel Tree, and Friends of the Troops,” she said.

Each student in Beta completes five service projects, with each project being around four hours long. “There are some students who went above and beyond this year with their credits: Alexis Williams and Jedd Johnson,” stated Mrs. Wilson, another sponsor of the club. Both students nearly tripled the amount of credits required, with Alexis at twelve credits and Jedd at fourteen credits. When asked why he decided to put in this much work, Jedd Johnson said, “I just enjoy doing community service projects and being able to be of service to others the best I can.” A few other students, June Lindroth and Sam Wooten, also stood out to Mrs. Hayen. These Generals organized a “Custodian Appreciation Week” and, according to Mrs. Hayen, “it was a huge success!” The inspiration behind this was the annual Teacher Appreciation Week, and it was made possible by June Lindroth, Sam Wooten, Madison Lankford, Susannah Kate Bunn, and Mrs. Wilson.  Custodian Appreciation Week saw these students providing breakfast for the custodians, creating a sign showing the club’s appreciation as well as making gift bags for them. “They stay here day and night to help keep this place clean for us students; I and the others just wanted to help them feel appreciated,” commented June Lindroth.

“Beta Club is made up of four pillars that all play a role in the members’ lives: Achievement, Character, Leadership, and Service,” said Jedd Johnson. The first pillar of this club, “Achievement,” focuses on high academic achievements. The “Character” pillar empowers members to be successful and prepare them for life. The “Leadership” pillar is, just as you would expect, about training and building leaders. The fourth and final pillar is the “Service” pillar. This pillar goes back to the Beta Club motto: “Let us lead by serving others.” As stated by Jedd Johnson, “Service is something I believe Beta members and everyone should put into their every-day lives. I feel like that’s our purpose for living.” 

Beta Club is an amazing organization; its main purpose is to help and serve the community. This club at HHS has no doubt helped many people improve their lives and will continue to do so. It will continue to grow throughout the years and give our Generals, as well as others, many more opportunities to impact the community in a positive way.