Successful Start for Briar Hills Elementary Beta Club

The Beta Club at Briar Hills Elementary School is off to an impressive start, and the club plans to keep that momentum going.

In the 2025-26 school year, Briar Hills scholars in fourth- and fifth-grade won first place at the Beta Club Regional Leadership Summit on Jekyll Island. That win propelled them to something greater – placing in the top 10 of two categories at the National Beta Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

It was a big moment on its own, but especially memorable because Briar Hills Elementary just opened last year.

“Our scholars represented Briar Hills with excellence, confidence and pride,” says Briar Hills literacy coach Tammy Cooke. She co-sponsors the school’s Beta Club alongside art teacher Patricia MacNintch.

“They have natural talent, but they’ve never had the spotlight," says MacNintch. "It was beautiful for Beta to offer these opportunities."

Students are invited to join Beta Club based on diagnostic scores, unit assessments, and conduct. The organization focuses on four pillars: achievement, character, leadership, and service.

Cooke and MacNintch say being in Beta Club is a point of pride. Students wear their Beta Club blazers to school every Tuesday. The distinctive look fuels positive peer motivation.

“They’re looking professional, and they’re wearing that throughout the day," says MacNintch. "That’s an incentive for other kids.”

Beta Club opens doors for students in this Title I school. For some, the trips to Jekyll Island and Nashville were their first travel experiences. MacNintch says along with building character, Beta Club shares, “all those little side things beyond winning.”

Briar Hills principal, Brandi Nichols, says the club shows, “what is possible when talent, hard work and perseverance come together.”

Fulton County Schools (FCS) leadership continues to support the club’s success. Cooke shares her deep appreciation for FCS Zone 2 Superintendent Dr. Jason Stamper, who has been central to securing funds for the club.

Cooke shares that Dr. Stamper “continues to find a way for these kids to have opportunities.”

Looking ahead to what’s next for the Beta Club at Briar Hills Elementary, Cooke says, “It’s going to get better and better for us.” Principal Nichols agrees. She calls the club’s success, “a reminder that excellence has no limits when students are given opportunities to shine.”