sms beta club has memorable trip to nashville

If it were a sports team, the Seymour Middle School Beta Club could safely be described as a dynasty.

The SMS Beta Club, in its 17^th year of existence, boarded two charter busses with close to 100 students last week en route to the annual Tennessee Junior Beta Convention held at the renowned Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

As usual, the SMS group didn’t come back to Seymour with nothing to show from its trip to the state capital.

The SMS Beta Club requires all of its members to sustain a B+ average and is sponsored by Amy Quincy, Dr. Faye Nelson, Michele Ballard and Milissa Brewer.

All of the sponsors agreed they were taken aback with the focus and determination displayed by SMS seventh-grader Troy Houk, who beat out four other candidates from across the state to be chosen the 2007 Beta Club State Vice President at the convention.

Nelson, the Seymour Middle School principal, has been involved with Beta since its inception on the state level 17 years ago and says Houk’s achievement, though certainly impressive, is nothing new for SMS students.

Dr. Houk explained that a representative from Seymour Middle School has earned a similar distinction, be it Vice President, President, Chaplain, Secretary or Reporter, in 14 of the 17 years that the state convention has been held.

“I was at the very first (Tennessee Junior Beta Club Convention) 17 years ago,” Nelson commented. “Seymour Middle School has never missed (attending) one.

Nelson said that when she attended the first state convention with SMS 17 years ago, a student named Daniel Sutphin was elected at the convention as the State Beta Club Chaplain.

Nelson proudly noted that Sutphin has since gone on to become a medical doctor.

“We’ve just had many, many students elected by Beta over the years,” Nelson continued. “Beta does such a great job of preparing students for life and the future.

“Our students are what have made the SMS Beta Club what it is today though. We’re so fortunate and blessed to have the students that we have.”

Houk and his fellow SMS Beta Club members campaigned extensively at the convention with the purpose of continuing the tradition of having a Seymour Middle School representative among the state beta club’s elected student officials.

Houk’s election speech, featuring a Superpowers theme, was particularly memorable, according to those in the audience.

“Have you ever thought about the superpowers in our lives at home, at school, on a team, at church, or in your communities?” Houk asked in the opening line of the speech that he coolly delivered before an audience of hundreds at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

“As Betas, we do have super power—the power to make a difference. Whether it’s tutoring a friend who needs extra help in class or sending care packages to soldiers in Iraq.

“We can make a difference every day.”

Houk and his fellow Beta Club members have indeed put their motions where their mouth is, doing what they can to make a difference not just in the Seymour community but also to members of the U.S. military fighting a war thousands of miles away in Iraq.

The SMS Beta Club’s biggest project this year was its effort to collect supplies that were sent to Master Sergeant William Whitley’s company that is currently stationed in Iraq. Whitley is the father of SMS Beta Club member, Rachel Whitley.

“That really made us feel like we were doing something to help somebody and letting them know that we all thank them for all their doing to help us stay safe,” Houk said of the massive care-package sent to the Middle East.

After watching hundreds of students come through the middle school in all her years at SMS, Nelson believes that the school’s Beta Club has been one of the few constants that have always been a positive influence on the lives of kids, even after they leave middle school and high school and move on to real life. She couldn’t help but to smile when she thought about the road that the school’s newest Beta Club state representative—Houk—is about to embark on.

“Troy is on an adventure and journey that will change his life,” Nelson remarked.

The next big event for Houk and the SMS Beta Club is the National Convention that is scheduled to take place next June 14-through-17 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Houk, who will soon attend a leadership conference at a college in North Carolina as part of his duties as the State Beta Club’s Vice President, will deliver the keynote address at the national convention in Myrtle Beach.

Looking back on all that’s happened in the past week, the seventh-grader, who is also a versatile member of the school’s basketball team, is almost at a loss for words when considering what all went into him being elected as the state vice president for beta club.

“It was just amazing that all 100 (Seymour Beta Club members) were out there campaigning for me in Nashville last week to get me to Myrtle Beach,” Houk said. “It’s been a great experience.”

Besides Houk being named State Beta Vice President at last week’s convention in Nashville, the SMS Eagle Ensemble was second place among 12 competitors in the singing competition and several members donned superhero costumes and acted out a skit that earned the SMS Beta Club a second-place finish in the skit competition.