This group of West Union High School students earned First Place in the group talent competition at the recent State Beta Convention held in Columbus. Front row, from MacKenzie Bickett, Jaycee Baldwin, and McKenzie Kirker; Back row, from left, Neil DeAtley, Tyler Swearingen, Andre Wolke, Zach Sentney, MacKenzie Smith, Rebekah McCarty, Madison Welch, Emilee Davis, Matthew Grooms, Tyler Fowler, Lindsey Daniel, Erin Downey, Sianna Mills, Carson McFarland, Morgan Henry, Shannon Runyan, Shruti Nayak, and Josie Parker.

By Tess Holloway, WUHS Beta Co-Sponsor – 
Photos by Jamie Puckett – 

Students from the West Union High School Beta Club attended the State Convention at the Greater Columbus Convention Center from March 22-24 and returned home with an impressive array of hardware. The WUHS chapter of the National Beta Club is co-sponsored by Science teacher Tess Holloway and Language Arts teacher Erica Meade.
Students in the WUHS Beta Club have prepared for multiple competitions throughout this academic year. The students’ hard work yielded excellent finishes in a variety of categories.
In the Arts categories, junior Sianna Mills earned First Place in the Woodworking category and Third Place Best of Show, junior Kelsea Hamilton earned First Place in the Mixed Media category and sophomore Lindsey Daniel earned Second Place in the category of Fiber Arts. WUHS art teacher Michael Felts provided the visual arts students constructive feedback throughout the art-making process.

Beta Build was a new competition at the State Convention this year. Teams were required to create a Rube Goldberg machine and fIrst place went to these young men, all seniors, from WUHS. Front row, from left, Tyler Swearingen and Tyler Fowler; Back row, from left, Janson Kramer, Andre Wolke, and Coal McClanahan.

Seniors Coal McClanahan, Tyler Swearingen, Andre Wolke, Janson Kramer, and Tyler Fowler earned a First Place finish in the Beta Build competition in which they were asked to build a five-step Rube Goldberg machine. Seniors Shannon Runyan, Rebekah McCarty and Kendall Gallowitz and junior Zach Sentney earned second place with their Beta Spotlight poster which focused on the school’s 2016-2017 blood drives. MacKenzie Smith and Zach Sentney, under the guidance of Language Arts teacher Jamie Puckett, earned a Third Place finish in Living Literature by depicting a scene from Richard Yates’s “Revolutionary Road”.
Sophomore Houston Adkins earned First Place in the Division 1 Social Studies Test. WUHS Betas earned their eighth consecutive First Place finish in the category of Group Talent with a medley of songs from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. The WUHS Group Talent students were led by WUHS choir director Neil DeAtley.
Seniors Chris Silhavy, Tyler Swearingen, Coal McClanahan, Andrew Wolke, and Janson Kramer, along with junior Adam Fulton earned a Third Place finish in robotics.
West Union Beta Club co-sponsor Erica Meade was nominated and accepted the position of State Sponsor Elect. She will shadow the current State Sponsor for two years and will then serve as State Sponsor for two years. Jackson Crask was elected State Secretary and plans to run for secretary at the National Convention in June.
All of the student winners are eligible to attend the Beta National Convention in June at Walt Disney World. WUHS Beta Members will soon begin fund raising to help pay for attending the National Convention.

Pictured here are all the winners at the State Beta Convention from West Union High School.