by Sonja J. Keith

Last school year, Grace Williams had a goal of overcoming her shyness and thought the best way to do that would be running for a state office in Beta Club. With the help of her teachers and classmates, she accomplished her goal in a big way by being elected the state and national president for Beta Club.

“When they called my name as the newly elected (national) president, all I could think was ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!’ I’m pretty sure that was all that came out of my mouth for about 30 seconds. I was so excited that when I got on stage and heard the crowd cheering, I would just suddenly give a cheesy smile and two thumbs up, and they’d start cheering all over again. 

“It was a crazy, fantastic feeling that I’ll never forget.”

Grace, 17, is a senior at Morrilton High School. She is a daughter of Sheila and Timothy Williams. She has two older siblings, Ayana and Isaiah.

As the national president, Grace will help facilitate the national convention, travel and speak at different state conventions, and be a student representative of the club. “Other goals of mine while I hold this office include working with the organization to find ways to alleviate the financial burden of attending state and national conventions and spreading information about the Beta Club to schools who don’t have one in hopes to give more students access to the opportunities and experiences Beta provides,” Grace said. “Who knows, there could be tons of future leaders and officers of this club just waiting for the Beta Club to be offered on their campus.”

School administrators had high praise for Grace and her accomplishments.

“Grace is the embodiment of what all Devil Dogs should strive to be,” said South Conway County School District Superintendent Shawn Halbrook. “She is a servant. She is a person of great leadership ability because she desires to help other people find success. She will be an amazing representative for Morrilton High School, our community and the state of Arkansas as she leads other scholars as the National Beta Club President.”

Morrilton High School Principal Danny Ketcherside added, “Grace is an advocate for positive change. She views every obstacle as an opportunity to make the world a better place for all.

She has taken the leadership role at Morrilton High School to another level. Grace is proof that a leader should engage the people in the decision-making process. 

“She is truly a positive role model for all students and staff members at Morrilton High School and the South Conway County School District.”

In junior high, Grace joined Beta Club, a group that she had not heard of prior to moving to Arkansas. “At the heart of Beta Club is students coming together and doing community service,” she said. “There have been so many opportunities that have been opened to me since Beta.”

Each year, at the Beta Club state convention in Hot Springs, there are a variety of competitions for students, including art which Grace has enjoyed. Students can also seek state offices.

In September, Grace signed up with her Beta Club to run for state president. Running for state office involved preparing a speech, a one-minute campaign skit and a question and answer session. Her campaign workers wore tie-dye T-shirts which Grace helped design, that reflected the theme “Amazing Grace.”

Eleven students from Morrilton High School attended the national convention earlier this summer in Oklahoma City. “Hours and hours of work went into preparing for the national convention,” said Grace. “We had to repaint and re-glue props for the skit, find new people to play roles in the skit and rehearse the skit from the ground up. 

“I had to revamp and rememorize my speech and practice answering several on-stage questions on a time limit with my sponsors. Altogether it was a pretty stressful process, but I was blessed that it all came together in the end!”

Grace said she is appreciative of the support she received from the community.

“Morrilton truly banded together to achieve this. We didn’t have enough students from our high school going to nationals to do our campaign skit, so Betas from Sacred Heart took the time and effort to join our skit and make it the success that it was. 

“Also, I wouldn’t have been able to make it to the convention if it wasn’t for the support and donations from several Arkansans, including Anthony Tidwell, executive director of the nonprofit art program Cutwell for Kids who allowed me to sell artwork at his studio and gave a generous donation in order to help me get to nationals and execute my campaign. 

“There were several local businesses that gave whatever they could because they believed in our club and what we could achieve at nationals. I’m eternally grateful for their trust and support throughout this entire process. 

“And most importantly, I’m grateful for all the prayers that went forth for me and the people involved in my campaign. Without prayers and the grace of God, none of this would’ve been possible. This campaign was truly the personification of ‘if God is for us, who can be against us?’ And with all that being said, I can’t wait to see all the great things that will be achieved through this national office!”