By Jeanni Ritchie
I have judged National Beta state conventions in Louisiana and Mississippi for years, but this summer I finally got to see what happens when the best of the best move on to Nationals.
I was already headed to Nashville when I realized the 2026 National Beta Convention would be taking over one of my favorite hotels in the world, Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.
There was no way I was missing it.
National Beta’s annual convention brings together students who have qualified through their state conventions and regional leadership events to compete for national titles. In 2026, the Senior, Elementary, and Junior conventions all converged on Gaylord Opryland over nearly two weeks in June. The Junior National Convention, which I attended and judged, ran June 23-27.
And I have to admit: I have a soft spot for middle schoolers. There is something about that age that I absolutely adore.
My judging assignments included Campaign Skits for Vice President, Solo/Duo/Trio Finals, and Speech.
The talent was extraordinary.
These were students who had already risen to the top at their state conventions, so I expected strong performances.
I still wasn’t prepared for just how difficult the judging would be.
Normally, even in a strong competition, I can identify four or five standouts fairly quickly.
In Speech, I felt like there were about 30.
Any one of them could have taken the top spot.
The same with Performing Arts. These performances rivaled acts seen on America’s Got Talent. The other judges’ scores would have to determine the winners. I could find no deductions for most of them!
But it wasn’t even the talent that impressed me most.
It was the character.
When a competitor stumbled, froze, or needed a little extra encouragement, the room responded with genuine, thunderous applause. Students who were competing against one another still cheered for each other. I was trying to surreptitiously wipe away tears at the display of solidarity when I noticed the other judges doing the same.
That spirit of camaraderie is one of the things I have always loved about Beta, and seeing it on the national level only reinforced it.
The setting made the experience even more memorable.
Gaylord Opryland is enormous enough to feel like a small city, with more than 3 million square feet under one roof. Finding my judging rooms required a little help—and a little cardio.
At one point, an ever-helpful Beta student told me to follow her to the general session.
I did.
Trying to keep pace with a junior high student may be the cheapest personal-training program in America.
By the time we arrived, I felt like I had completed Beta Bootcamp.
But once the judging began, the miles through the resort didn’t matter.
What mattered were the students in front of us.
National Beta’s convention is designed as the culmination of a year of achievement, competition, leadership, service, and creativity, and it showed. Students were not simply competing for trophies; they were representing schools, communities, and states after already working hard to qualify for Nationals.
I may have been sitting there with a scoring sheet in hand, but my heart was taking notes too.
The speeches inspired me.
The campaign skits impressed me.
The performances wowed me.
And the way the students encouraged one another reminded me that character still matters just as much as talent.
After years of judging state conventions, I finally got to see Nationals for myself.
It was everything I expected.
And a whole lot harder to score.
