All their springtime work paid off for the Beta club members from Siegel Middle with a pair of top five finishes at the National Beta Convention, including first place in the performing arts solo, duo, trio category.

The first-place team included McKenna Elliott, Samantha Festervand and Reese Lynam, and they beat out more than 30 schools competing in-person and even more virtual entries.

Fellow eighth-grader Noah Wright took third in social studies.

This was the second year in a row Wright placed at the National Convention. He was third in the seventh grade competition last year.

The national qualifiers originally competed and earned victories at the Virtual State Convention held in February.

Siegel received five victories at the state level. In addition to performing arts solo, duo, trio and eighth grade social studies, the club competed in seventh grade social studies, color photography and service-learning showcase. Seventh-graders Teagan Chabot, Carissa King and Abby Cheuvront represented the school in these events.

At the high school level, Ariana Olivares of Stewarts Creek placed fourth in Spanish for 11th grade, while Ronald Whitmore of Siegel High was ninth in speech division I.

Held in Orlando, Florida, the National Convention provided students an opportunity to compete either virtually or on-site.

More than 13,000 Junior Beta (grades 4-8) and Senior Beta (grades 9-12) students represented their schools in the first National Beta Hybrid Convention.

The club at Siegel Middle was chartered in 2001 and is a National Beta School of Merit.

There are 79 active members for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year. Members must have meet academic criteria to join and after being accepted into the club, the members complete community service to be eligible to compete at the state and national conventions.

With more than 500,000 active members and 8,750 clubs nationally and internationally, National Beta — which promotes the ideals of academic achievement, character, service and leadership — has become the nation’s largest independent, non-profit, educational youth organization.

Other Rutherford County Schools’ students competed and placed in the Tennessee BETA convention in the spring:

Junior Level (grades 6-8)

• BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY JUNIOR - 4th Place: Sophie LaTerre (Thurman Francis Arts Academy)
• COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY JUNIOR - 4th Place: Carissa King (Siegel Middle School)
• LANGUAGE ARTS 6TH GRADE - 1st Place: Isadora Romig (Central Magnet School)
• LANGUAGE ARTS 8TH GRADE - 1st Place: Samantha Warren (Central Magnet School)
• MATH 6TH GRADE - 1st Place: Jacob Anderson (Central Magnet School)
• MATH 8TH GRADE - 2nd Place: Michael Collier Pawlowski (Central Magnet School)
• PERFORMING ARTS SOLO, DUO, TRIO JUNIOR - 2nd Place: McKenna Elliott, Samantha Festervand, Reese Lynam (Siegel Middle School)
• SCIENCE 7TH GRADE - 2nd Place: Rachel Swicord (Central Magnet School)
• SCULPTURE JUNIOR - 4th Place: Jasmin Georgiou (Thurman Francis Arts Academy)
• SERVICE LEARNING SHOWCASE JUNIOR - 5th Place: Abby Cheuvront (Siegel Middle School)
• SOCIAL STUDIES 6TH GRADE - 1st Place: Collin Barrett (Central Magnet School)
• SOCIAL STUDIES 7TH GRADE - 4th Place: Teagan Chabot (Siegel Middle School)
• SOCIAL STUDIES 8TH GRADE - 1st Place: Grace White (Central Magnet School) - 4th Place: Noah Wright (Siegel Middle School)

Senior Level (grades 9-12)

• AGRISCIENCE 9TH GRADE - 2nd Place: Sophia Odom (Riverdale High School)
• FRESHMAN PROBLEM SOLVING - 3rd Place: Riverdale High School
• LANGUAGE ARTS 10TH GRADE - 4th Place: Ivy Lin (Riverdale High School)
• LANGUAGE ARTS 11TH GRADE - 1st Place: Beth Nelson (Oakland High School)
• MATH 12TH GRADE - 2nd Place: Jose Cerritos Arevalo (Smyrna High School)
• MATH 9TH GRADE
• 4th Place: Isabella Nelson (Stewarts Creek High School) - MIXED MEDIA DIVISION II
• 3rd Place: Shayla Mayo (Riverdale High School) - PAINTING DIVSION II
• 2nd Place: Kylie Ward (Siegel High School)
• PORTFOLIO - 5th Place: Riverdale High School
• SCIENCE 11TH GRADE - 3rd Place: Emma Jackson (Oakland High School)
• SCIENCE 12TH GRADE - 2nd Place: Hussain Al-turaihi (Smyrna High School)
• SOCIAL STUDIES 12TH GRADE - 2nd Place: Alvin Villarosa (Smyrna High School)
• SPANISH 11TH GRADE - 3rd Place: Ariana Olivares (Stewarts Creek High School); 4th Place: Ruth Lopez (Smyrna High School)
• SPANISH 12TH GRADE - 3rd Place: Leslie Mendoza-Ortiz (Smyrna High School)
• SPEECH DIVISION I - 3rd Place: Ronald Whitmore (Siegel High School)
• SPEECH DIVISION II - 3rd Place: Ariana Olivares (Stewarts Creek High School)
• TECHNOLOGY - 1st Place: Siegel High School
• TWO DIMENSIONAL DESIGN - 5th Place: Riverdale High School
• CAMPAIGN SKIT - 5th Place: Oakland High School