Several Putnam County High School (PCHS) students traveled to Savannah Jan. 25-27, for the Senior Beta Club State Convention, where five took honors that send them to the National Beta Convention in June at Louisville, Ky.
Arella Cash, a regular contributor to The Eatonton Messenger as a writer and photographer, placed first for an unprecedented third-straight year in the Senior Fiber Art category and fourth in Digital Art, while Carolyn Thomas also placed first in Speech.
PCHS students Caleb Cook earned a second-place finish in Senior Woodworking for his hand-made chess set, Addie Grace Usry was second in Poetry and Evan Nipper placed fourth in Painting.
According to its website (betaclub.org), the National Beta Club is more than 80 years old and the largest independent, non-profit, educational youth organization in the country. Its stated mission is to prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s leaders.
From its national headquarters in Spartanburg, SC, the organization’s National Beta Scholarship Program awards more than 250 post-secondary education scholarships worth more than $300,000 annually. Since 1991, Beta said it has awarded more than $6 million in scholarships to graduating members.
Arella has been a Beta Club member since her sophomore year at PCHS, meaning she has won every time she’s entered the Beta Fiber Arts state competition.
“There are hundreds of different categories you can enter in and they’re always adding more,” she explained.
In 2020-21, her first year in Beta, Arella said she entered a tracing of her hand with a peace sign embroidered on it. It won in a state competition and placed seventh nationally.
This year, Arella won over a field of nearly 20 entries with her embroidery of Icarus falling after flying too close to the sun. She admitted to being somewhat surprised at keeping her winning streak alive, though, especially after seeing a beautiful, crocheted Mona Lisa tapestry entered her class.
“Usually in the past, I have seen really good work, and not to say that I expected to win, but I always felt like I was a worthy opponent for them. And then this time around, I kind of was like, man, I have nothing on this person,” Arella said. “When I saw that Mona Lisa it really killed my confidence, but I ended up placing first anyway. I don’t know how, really, but I’ll take it.”
After graduating from PCHS this spring, Arella said she’ll be taking her talents to the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega, where she’ll be enrolled in the English program.
“I feel very confident in my decision to go there,” she said. “I also have a fair amount of my core already done so I can kind of go in and not feel as pressured to get a bunch of classes right away. It should be good.”