Sometimes the most profound victories emerge from the ashes of crushing disappointment. For the DeSoto Elementary School District Beta Club, last year's state convention became the catalyst for an extraordinary transformation that would take 22 students from a small southern Illinois community all the way to national competition in Orlando, Florida.

"We had a really rough year last year at state," recalls Brittany Harper, Beta Club co-sponsor and junior high math teacher. "Really great projects, really excited kids, and we didn't get the outcome we wanted. There were no placements." The disappointment was palpable among the students, but Harper and co-sponsor Cassie Piper saw an opportunity to teach resilience. "It was a good lesson about staying at it, keeping going. Just because you don't see a physical reward doesn't mean you didn't achieve something."

That lesson proved transformative. When the new school year began, the returning Beta Club members were fueled by determination. "A lot of them stepped out of their comfort zones and did new things," Harper explains. The results spoke volumes: three individual art pieces advanced to nationals in digital art, photography, and fiber arts. Academic competitions in Spanish and computer science also earned spots at the national level. Even their performing arts trio—guitar, bass, and drums—qualified despite technical difficulties during their state performance when their guitar failed mid-song.

But the breakthrough moment came with their T-shirt design competition. Using the national theme "Radiate," the students interpreted it through a Y2K throwback lens, complete with suns and nostalgic early 2000s imagery. The collaborative design process exemplified the Beta Club spirit—students who weren't traditionally artistic contributed ideas and sketches, while others like eighth-grader Alta Goodbar digitized the artwork. "What's on the T-shirt is completely kid-designed," notes Piper proudly.

That T-shirt design didn't just place at state—it won, earning the entire club an invitation to nationals. But here's where the story becomes truly remarkable: Harper and Piper made a promise that no student would be left behind due to financial constraints.

"We estimated about $1,000 per kid, so our goal was $25,000," Harper explains. For a school district serving many lower-income families, this seemed daunting. But the community rallied in extraordinary fashion. Local businesses like Gresa's Café, Aces of Fades, Village Laundry, and Absolute Plumbing opened their wallets. Families contributed generously. "We would get stopped, and they were like, 'We just want you to know we're so proud of you guys. We're proud that you're sending this small school to nationals,'" Harper recalls.

The fundraising success allowed all 22 eligible students to travel to Orlando, where they stayed together in a large Airbnb. "We had this vision that we're all going to be there together, using the opportunity outside of competition to grow these kids and their friendships," Piper explains.

At the largest Beta Club national convention ever—with 30,000 attendees—DeSoto's investment paid off spectacularly. Their T-shirt design placed ninth nationally among all competing clubs. Alta Goodbar's digital art piece earned individual recognition on the national stage. Most importantly, the experience validated months of hard work despite losing three weeks of preparation time to winter weather.

"There was no moment in our time there that I was not rewarded by their behavior, by how hard they were working," Piper reflects. "We watched kids that we are more than ready to send to high school, even the seventh graders."

The success story begins with Donna Boros, who originally established DeSoto's Beta Club in the late 1980s. Though the program has been "patchy" over the years, Harper and Piper have rebuilt it into a powerhouse that now includes nearly two-thirds of the school's 47 junior high students.

"The character development is the most important part to both of us in Beta Club," Piper emphasizes. "We're teaching these kids how they should be to their communities, how they should be to each other, how they should be to authority figures. They made us proud!"