National Beta Club | |
---|---|
Founded | December 1934 Spartanburg, SC |
Type | Honor society |
Affiliation | Independent |
Status | Active |
Emphasis | Elementary and secondary school students |
Scope | International |
Motto | "Let Us Lead By Serving Others" |
Pillars | Academic Achievement, Character, Leadership, Service |
Member badge | |
Colors | Black and Gold |
Mascot | J.W. the Boston Terrier |
Chapters | 9,600 |
Members | 509,515 active 7,000,000+ lifetime |
Nickname | Beta Club, Beta |
Headquarters | 151 Beta Club Way Spartanburg , South Carolina 29306 United States |
Website | www |
The National Beta Club (often called "Beta Club" or simply "Beta") is an International honor society for 4th through 12th-grade students. Its purpose is to promote academic achievement, character, leadership, and service among elementary and secondary school students. The National Beta Club is the largest independent educational society for youths in the United States. Headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the organization has more than 9,600 clubs nationally and more than 500,000 active members.
Dr. John W. Harris, a Wofford College professor, founded the National Honorary Beta Club as a co-educational high school academic honors program. [1] His idea was to created an organization like Phi Beta Kappa, Kiwanis, and Rotary for high school students. [1] With the permission of principals and superintendents, Harris presented his plan to local high school literary societies and their sponsors. [1] Its charter members were twelve students were initiated in December 1932 at Clover High School in Clover, South Carolina. [2]
Its charter members included: [2]
The National Honorary Beta Club was registered in Kentucky by J. F. Drake, B.B. Green, and W. B. Storker on December 15, 1932. [3] [4] The purpose of the organization was "the maintenancee of a high standard of scholarship in the classroom and installing the ideals of loyalty, courage, leadership, honesty, and integrity in the high school students." [5]
The first Beta Club chapter was established at Landrum High School in Landrum, South Carolina on January 8, 1934, by incorporating the fifteen members of the pre-existing Landrum High School Literary Society. [1] The club's sponsor was teacher Helen Prince. [1] Other clubs established in South Carolina in 1934 include Simpsonville High School in February; Duncan High School in October; Ellen Woodside School, Elloree High School, Greer High School, Hickory Grove High School, Walhalla High School, and Woodruff High School in November; and Brookland-Cayce High School, Paris School, and Summerton High School in December. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
Clubs were also established at China Grove High School, the Lewisville High School, and the Woodleaf High School in North Carolina in October 1934, followed by Cary High School and Granite Quarry High School in December 1934. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] The first club in Georgia was formed at Royston High School in November 1934. [21] Each club had a teacher who serves as its sponsor. [22] Members recruited from the junior and senior classes for outstanding scholarship and good character. [11] [15]
The National Beta Club held its first convention in May 1934 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. [23] Its student magazine, The Beta Journal, was established in September 1934. [24] There were 75 clubs in four states by the end of 1935. [24]
The Beta Club established a loan program that helped 1,500 members attend college before replacing the program with scholarships. [1] In 1961, the Junior Beta Club was formed for middle school students. [1] The first Junior Beta Club was established at Millsap Elementary in Millsap, Texas in August 1961. [23]
The Beta Club held its first national convention in June 1981 in Orlando, Florida. [23] It celebrated Founder's Day for the first time on October 27, 2017. [23] The Elementary Beta division was launched in 2023. [23]
As of the 2023–2023 academic year, there were 509,515 active members in the Senior and Junior divisions and over 7 million alumni. [25] The National Beta Club is the largest independent educational society for youths in the United States. [23] Its headquarters at 151 Beta Club Way in Spartanburg, South Carolina. [26]
Harris selected the name Beta Club because high achievers earned A or B grades; Beta was the Greek letter for B. [1] The Beta Club's original motto was "We Lead, Others Follow. [10] This was replaced in 1942, with "Let Us Lead By Serving Others." [23] [25] Its pillars are Academic Achievement, Character, Leadership, and Service. [23] Its colors are black and gold. [27] [28]
The member induction ceremony uses five colored candles: red, white, and blue to symbolize the United States and Beta's colors of black and gold. [27] [28]
In 2016, Beta Club introduced J.W. the Boston Terrier, its mascot named after the honor society's founder. [23] Its publication is The Beta Journal. [24] [1]
The National Beta Club has three membership divisions: [22]
Traditionally, students are awarded membership based on their grades (GPA), or test scores and character traits. Each school chooses what items they will look at for their chapter's member qualifications. [22]
Annually, the National Beta Club awards over $300,000 in scholarships to more than 250 twelfth-grade Senior Beta Members. [29] The scholarship are supported in part by donations from corporations and philanthropists. [1] It also present various awards to clubs, alumni, and sponsors. [29] At the local level, clubs participate in community service and celebrate National Beta Week and Founders Day. [29]
The Beta Club hosts national conventions each summer for the Elementary, Junior, and Senior levels. [30] State conventions are held for member and sponsors in eighteen states. [1] [31] At the conventions, members participate in various academic and talent competitions, including academic tests, performing arts, S.T.E.M. competitions, and visual arts, [31]
As of 2005, the National Beta Club has clubs or chapters across the United States and in The Bahamas, Germany, Guam, Puerto Rico, Russia, and the Virgin Islands. [1] In 2024, it had chartered 9,600 clubs in the United States and internationally. [32]
Greenville is the county seat and most populous city of Pitt County, North Carolina, United States. It is the principal city of the Greenville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the 12th-most populous city in North Carolina. Greenville is the health, entertainment, and educational hub of North Carolina's Tidewater and Coastal Plain. As of the 2020 census, there were 87,521 people in the city. The city has continued to see a rapid population increase and an economic boom with most of the growth being seen in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Furman University is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826 and named after Baptist pastor Richard Furman, the liberal arts university is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became a secular university in 1992, while keeping Christo et Doctrinae as its motto. As of Fall 2021, it enrolls approximately 2,300 undergraduate students and 150 graduate students on its 750-acre (304 ha) campus.
Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity (ΦΣΠ) is a gender-inclusive/mixed-sex national honor fraternity based in the United States. The fraternity is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization incorporated in the state of Pennsylvania to foster scholarship, leadership, and fellowship. Phi Sigma Pi chapters are at more than 140 four-year collegiate institutions.
In the United States, an honor society is an organization that recognizes individuals who rank above a set standard in various domains such as academics, leadership, and other personal achievements, not all of which are based on ranking systems. These societies acknowledge excellence among peers in diverse fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Scouts of America. While the term commonly refers to scholastic honor societies, which primarily acknowledge students who excel academically or as leaders among their peers, it also applies to other types of societies.
Thornwell Jacobs was a professor, historian, author, fundraiser, university founder, and Presbyterian minister. He earned degrees from Presbyterian College in South Carolina and the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. He wrote The Law of White Circle, a novel about mulattos set during the Atlanta race massacre of 1906.
Peabody High School was a public school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the neighborhood of East Liberty. The school opened in 1911 in the renovated former Margaretta Street elementary school and was rededicated in honor of Highland Park physician Dr. Benjamin Helm Peabody. After 100 years in operation, the school board of the Pittsburgh Public Schools voted to close the school and graduate its final class in 2011.
Chapman High School is a public high school located in Inman, South Carolina, United States. It is a part of Spartanburg County School District 1.
North Greenville University is a private Baptist college in Tigerville, South Carolina. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and awards bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.
Easley High School (EHS) is a public high school in Easley, South Carolina, founded in 1909. The original auditorium is on the National Register of Historic Places.
River Valley High School is a public high school near Bidwell, in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is one of two high schools in the Gallia County Local School District, the other school being South Gallia High School. Their nickname is the Raiders. The school has been rated "Excellent" two years in a row on the state report card making it one of the highest ranked schools within several counties. In August 2009 the current RVHS facility was officially opened, taking the place of the previous RVHS located in nearby Cheshire. The new location places River Valley High School just a short distance from its main feeder school, River Valley Middle School. The 2009–10 school year was the first to take place in the new building, with the Class of 2010 being the first class to graduate, and the Class of 2013 being the first to complete all four years of their secondary education at the new building.
Psi Iota Xi (ΨΙΞ) is a women's philanthropic and cultural sorority with chapters throughout the midwestern United States. The sorority was formed in 1897 at Central High School in Muncie, Indiania. It was originally a high school sorority and expanded regionally, but changed to become a community-based sorority after Indiana state laws prohibited sororities in public schools. As of 2024, it has chartered 135 chapters in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Michigan. Its focus is art, literature, music, and speech and hearing.
Omega Gamma Delta (ΩΓΔ) is an American national high school fraternity founded in Brooklyn, New York in 1902. It is the oldest surviving high school fraternity in the United States. In the 2010s, it was recast as "a fraternity for men" with a focus on citywide alumni and graduate clubs.
Southside Christian School is a private K–12 Christian school in Simpsonville, South Carolina. SCS was established in 1967 and is accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International. SCS serves approximately 1,300 students beginning at 24 months of age and continuing through 12th grade on one campus. Students are divided into Early Education (EE2–EE5), Elementary School (Kindergarten–5th), Middle School (6th–8th), and High School (9th–12th).
Beta Kappa Chi (ΒΚΧ) is an American collegiate honor society that recognizes academic achievement in the fields of natural science and mathematics. It was established in 1923 at Lincoln University, an historically Black university near Oxford, Pennsylvania.
Delta Phi Delta National Art Honor Society (ΔΦΔ) was an American collegiate art honorary society. Delta Phi Delta was a member of the Association of College Honor Societies. The national society is defunct, with one former chapter operating as a local organization.
Gamma Eta Gamma (ΓΗΓ) is a co-ed professional law fraternity that was a member of the Professional Fraternity Association. Chapters are limited to law schools on the approved list of the American Bar Association.
Phi Lambda Sigma (ΦΛΣ), also known as the National Pharmacy Leadership Society, is a North American college honor society for pharmacy students. It was founded at Auburn University in March 1965.
Alpha Iota (ΑΙ) is a national collegiate professional sorority for women in the field of business. It was established in 1925 at the American Institute of Business in Des Moines, Iowa.
Elizabeth Friench Johnson was an American college professor. She was head of the modern languages department at Winthrop College in South Carolina, from 1922 to 1955. She also taught at Sweet Briar College and Centre College.
Eva C. Mitchell was an American educator. She was a professor of education at Hampton Institute from 1930 to 1960.