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Academy Student Wins State President Campaign
In December, members of the AHN Junior Beta Club traveled to the Florida Junior Beta Club Convention in Orlando to participate in two days of academic and fine arts competitions. More than 30 AHN students joined 1,500 Junior Beta members from across the state to showcase their academic and leadership abilities in categories including performing arts, engineering, marketing and communications, and more. At the convention, state officials were also elected, with the Academy’s 7th-grade student, Cameron Powell, winning Junior Beta President for Florida.
Powell’s term as the Florida Junior Beta Club president begins on July 1, 2020, and will end at next summer’s state convention, where she will have the honor of emceeing the event. She will give a keynote address and will assist with preparing the new candidates. Powell will receive a free trip and tuition to the National Junior Beta Leadership Camp in Greenville, Tenn., this summer. She also qualifies to attend the National Convention in Fort Worth, Texas, in June. She even may be interested in running for national office!
Powell stays busy at AHN outside of Junior Beta Club. She plays on four middle school sports teams: soccer, basketball, track and softball. Powell is also a student council representative and excels academically, achieving first honors. Her experiences and opportunities at the Academy prepared her for the Florida Junior Beta Club presidential campaign. Powell said, “The learning environment and the way I’ve been pushed to succeed [at AHN] have been very helpful.”
Powell prepared a speech and a skit for the entire convention while campaigning throughout the two days. Her speech touched on this year’s theme at the Academy: To Be Unique. She related this theme to the members in Junior Beta, saying, “As your president, I would work to make sure everyone feels comfortable in their own skin. … Together, people will see Junior Beta as an ocean of unique individuals. If you elect me as your 2020 Junior Beta president, we will leave a mark on the world nobody can wash away.” Cameron was then asked a question at random: “What does your school do to give back to the community?” Cameron says her answer couldn’t have gone better as she spoke about the Academy’s annual Community Service Day.
AHN Elementary School Assistant Principal and Junior Beta Club Sponsor Becky Elliott attended the convention and was impressed by Powell’s stage presence and delivery skills. She also noted how Powell’s fellow club members supported her during the campaign. “They initiated conversations with every group of students they encountered and made everyone feel welcome and accepted. They truly modeled what we mean by our motto, ‘Esse Quam Videri: To be, rather than to seem.’”
Congratulations to Cameron Powell and the following AHN students who placed at the Florida Junior Beta Club Convention:
FIRST PLACE QUIZ BOWL Keala Hollencamp, Maddie Berg, Christa Masiello and Diego Tobon
FIRST PLACE SOLO PERFORMING ARTS Reese Edlund
SECOND PLACE MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Maisi Sigler, Bella Otte, Madison Ratchford, Catherine Neely and Kamila Muraharesetti
THIRD PLACE LITERATURE Rory Martineau
THIRD PLACE POETRY Rory Martineau
THIRD PLACE MIXED MEDIA Maia McCullough
