Baton Rouge or Bust

Wow! Louisiana Betas can dance!

This week, my dad and I made the trek to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for their Senior Beta Convention. We left around 6pm on Wednesday evening and literally drove straight through, and at 2:30 on Thursday morning, we checked into the Sheraton about a block from the Mississippi River! The next two days were complete chaos, but they were so much fun!

I managed to sneak in four or five hours of sleep before heading over to the River Center the next morning. When I got there, I was shocked at how big their convention was; I'm guessing there was somewhere around 5,000 people there! And there was plenty of activities to keep them busy; there were mini Leadership seminars, scavenger hunts, mega Twister games, pre-session dance instruction and more competitions than you could shake a stick at. Plus, their mixer was a blast! There was aways something going on.

Four officers visited from out of state, and it was so good to see the Louisiana officers strutting their stuff: Wesley Juneau, Mallory Richard and Maggie Joyner! All three National Officers attended this convention, Chris Bowman, Mallory and I, which was pretty cool!

With so much going on, all of us officers got the chance to help out a lot, which was fun. I helped out with a couple of different competitions, and I even got to be a judge! Mallory asked me to give her inspiration, so I got to speak at the second session.

Of course, I want to congratulate the newly elected incoming officers Lauren Lange, Anthony Corner and Jack Fletcher and all the other state winners!

I've got this week to catch up on school work and try to get some rest because on Friday, I'm leaving for Hot Springs-- Arkansas Beta Convention, here I come!

Samantha Green

Everything's Bigger in Texas!!

On January 9 and 10th, I travelled to Austin for the Texas Senior Beta Convention! My mom came with me, and I we had a great time! There were seven vi sting officers, plus Blake, Sam and Eric, the three Texas officers. Sometimes I forget just how much I miss these guys!

Austin is a pretty awesome city; During a few hours of free time, I had the chance to walk around and get a feel for the downtown area. It was my first time being in Texas, and I love it!

I spoke during the second session, right before Clayton King, the guest speaker, came on stage. He's one of my favorite speakers and he, like always, brought the house down. You can check out his website at http://www.claytonking.com/.

I must admit, I was impressed; Texas has talent! The competitions, talent and campaigns were amazing! It was a lot of fun to watch how other states go about their campaigning process. Plus, the skits were really cute! Congrats to Derek Meyer, Andrew Crosswhite, and Valerie Manning-- the new incoming state officers for Texas!

I hope everyone is gearing up for our convention in March! Can't wait to see you in Branson!

Samantha Green

Happy New Year!

Wow, I can't believe it's 2009! Christmas break is coming to an end and it's almost time to start hitting the books again! (I know, I'm not looking forward to it either!) I hope everyone had a fun New Year's Eve; take advantage of your last few days of freedom-- Sleep in! :)

For my fellow Seniors-- this is it! We'll be kicking off our final semester in high school soon. It's really weird to think about, but also exciting at the same time.

Convention planning is underway, and I hope everyone is getting excited!
I'm heading to the Texas Beta Convention next week, I'll be sure to keep everyone updated!

Samantha Green