Thirty-three members of the Junior Beta Club at  Blandford Elementary School attended the Georgia State Beta Club Convention for their first time Nov. 28,  It was held at the Savannah Trade and Convention Center.

Students were accompanied by Beta Club sponsors Syndi Bradley, Kristine Bothwell, Kim McGee and Keeeli Wadley. 

At least 40 fourth- and fifth-grade clubs from around the state attended the convention.  The Blandford club competed in many events and qualified for several national competitions set in Oklahoma City, Okla., in the summer of 2019.  

The students competed in academic testing, engineering, quiz bowl, performing arts, visual arts, Book Battle, creative writing and poetry writing. 

Kasey Ladner competed in the Fiber Arts competition, placing third.  Andrew Moseley placed first and fifth in the Social Studies and Science academic testing, respectively.  

Riley McMillan placed fourth in the English Language Arts testing.

The quiz bowl team, made up of Moseley, Kirill Stavenchuk, McMillan and Jack Pilo, took first place out of 40 teams competing in five rounds of questions.  Each of these winners qualified for the national competition.

The Georgia Junior Beta Club is the largest state Junior Beta Club in the nation. This year the elementary members were separated from the middle school members to host the first Georgia Elementary Beta Club Convention for  fourth- and fifth-grade members only.  

The Blandford Elementary Beta Club plans to attend the state convention again as Savannah will play host for the next three years.