During the month of November 2023, Viola Beta helped process books at the school library.  The event was titled the "Library Service Day". The Library Service Day took place on ACT Prep Day #1, on Friday, November 17th, 2023, in the Viola School Library.  The goal of this project was to allow Beta members an easy way to get their required service hours for the 2023-24 school year. Mrs. Richmond, the school librarian, placed a large order of books for the library that needed to be processed. The project was officially presented at a meeting on November 15, 2023. Five senior high members and two junior high members attended. Beta members were tasked to put stickers on the books in order to be processed. The longest time spent on the day of the event was five hours. Around 200 books were processed during the Library Service Project and was deemed a success by Mrs. Richmond. The idea is planned to be integrated into future plans for Viola Beta. The remainder of the day was spent planning for the Longhorn Innovation Day. 

First published: April 6, 2024

Title: Library Service Day - November 17, 2023: Project 2

Type: Service Project

Operational: Planning: November 6, 2023 - November 17, 2023 (11 days)

                              Event: November 17, 2023

Perhaps the largest project of the 2023-24 school year, in terms of attendance and planning, the Longhorn Innovation Day was a day camp that took place on Monday, December 4, 2023, and was held by Viola Beta Club that involved students from Viola Elementary School in grades 3-6. The day camp was considered to be one of the largest service projects ever organized by Viola Beta Club. 

Planning began on October 2, 2023, on a trip taken by elected officers to Hot Springs for the 2023 Beta Leadership Summit. During the summit, Beta members created the idea of a day camp that promoted Beta Club and what the organization promotes - leadership and service - to the older students in Viola Elementary. The Longhorn Innovation Day came as an idea for the Service Learning Showcase entry for Arkansas State Convention which was held in January 2024. On October 4, 2023, every officer was committed to volunteering during the day camp. 

On Friday, November 17, 2023, a planning day was set up, concurrent with the Library Service Day that had an attendance of seven members. During this phase, all the students were assigned to four color-coded groups that had assigned group leaders, which consisted of three senior high members and one junior high member. Multiple activities were established during this phase, including a scavenger hunt which was set up, a service project that promoted being kind to veterans, an arts and crafts station, and an escape room; all of these activities were held in the beginning of the day as part of the innovation side of this day camp. 

Later, other activities were planned for the latter half of the day. These were pep rally games such as ‘sharks and minnows’, line dances, and ‘ships and sailors’, and a trivia game where prizes were awarded. A dance party was also held during this part of the day. On November 28, 2023, 40 students were expected to attend. On November 30, 2023, Viola Beta was given a donation of $200 by local business, North Arkansas Spray Foam, LLC. This money was spent on lunch for every kid and volunteer to ensure that everyone was given a free lunch. This lunch consisted of turkey or ham sandwiches, chips, a drink (hug juice barrel), and a cookie. Students had the option to choose if they wanted turkey or ham on their sandwich. 

On December 1, 2023, Viola Beta sponsor Mrs. Guffey announced that preparation for the next service project, annual Santa Letters would occur during the Longhorn Innovation Day. This section brought six others to the day camp. They did not participate in the activities though.

The Longhorn Innovation Day began at 7:30am on Monday, December 4, 2023, at Viola High School. The project's planning committee ran the front desk and ensured the day camp went smoothly. The day camp began with registration. At 8:00am, the project's planning committee presented an introduction to the day camp to all students and volunteers. Activities began at 8:30am. A breakfast snack was provided to all students during the first activity which was funded by the $200 granted to Viola Beta. Each group: red (half of third grade, half of fourth grade), purple (half of third grade, half of fourth grade), green (half of fifth grade, half of sixth grade), and yellow (half of fifth grade, half of sixth grade) rotated between the four activities. 

For the first activity (scavenger hunt), students were given a list of clues in order to solve a mystery. They were tasked to all work together in order to obtain a prize before the passing period. All four groups successfully completed the scavenger hunt in time. For the second activity (service project), students were instructed via a presentation to create a drawing to send to veterans coming home for the holidays. The instructor for this activity also discussed the meaning behind community service and its benefits and importance. For the third activity (arts and crafts), students were encouraged to draw inside an outline of a hand (see photo 1) that was provided to them. These hands were then used to create a display that is located in the Beta sponsor’s classroom. This activity and creation had a larger meaning about the benefits of working together as one. For the fourth activity (escape room), students collaborated to complete a challenging escape room created by Beta members that involved the video game Minecraft. They were tasked to work together and escape a virtual world they were trapped in. This activity encouraged teamwork and leadership skills in a controlled and focused environment. These activities were held in four high school classrooms. 

Lunch began at 11:00am and was set up in sponsor Mrs. Guffey’s classroom. Groups rotated between lunch and outside time on the Viola Elementary playground. After lunch, students and volunteers participated in pep rally games and relay races. These went on from 1:00pm-2:00pm. A 'dance party' was held twenty minutes after. When pick up time came around, trivia was held in the high school whilst students waited to be picked up by their parents/guardians. Alas, the day was over and went smoothly. 

The day’s total attendance was 57 students, volunteers, and sponsors. 40 students were expected to attend; only 31 showed up. 15 Beta members ranging from 8th grade to 12th grade attended as chaperones. Beta sponsor Mrs. Guffey and her daughter, Andi, attended along with six students preparing for Santa Letters. 

On December 5, 2023, the day after the project was conducted, the project’s planning committee sent out a survey to the fifteen students who volunteered at the day camp. 91% of the fifteen volunteers felt that this project was a success in organization, planning, communication, and effectively teaching leadership and developmental skills. All the survey responses were anonymous.  

All attending members logged their volunteer hours in their logs. The highest number of hours earned for this project (including planning) were 16.

The day camp was over but relations to it were not cut off until February 1, 2024. 

Starting on January 12, 2024, members worked together to create a display for Viola Beta’s entry into the Service Learning Showcase for Arkansas State Convention. The board was created on January 26, 2024, but was redone at Arkansas State Convention on January 29th. The display was not awarded. The project was closed on February 1st.

The day camp was sufficient in every intended goal and taught the value of leadership and community service to the youth of Viola, Arkansas in an effective way that also included having fun. As of April 2024, Viola Beta plans to create another Longhorn Innovation Day that will be titled the “2nd Annual Longhorn Innovation Day” and is expected to be held on Monday, December 2nd, 2024.

First published: April 8, 2024

Project Title: Longhorn Innovation Day: Project 3

Type: Service Project

Operational: Planning: October 2, 2023 - December 4, 2023 (2 months, 3 days) 

Event: December 4, 2023

Post-event projects: January 12, 2024 - February 1, 2024 (21 days)

Project: October 2, 2023 - February 1, 2024 (4 months)

An annual tradition for Viola Beta, the Santa Letters project occurred in December 2023. During this project, several Beta members wrote letters as "Santa's helpers" to the younger students of Viola Elementary (K-2nd grade). These letters were sent out on December 15, 2023. Planning began on December 4, 2023, during the Longhorn Innovation Day. Six Beta members met with sponsor Mrs. Guffey and planned out how the letters will be distributed. On December 7, 2023, younger Viola Elementary students received a letter by "Santa" asking them what they wanted for Christmas. Viola Beta members took these letters after they were sent back to the High School and wrote letters with decorated envelopes appearing to be from the "North Pole". The project ended on December 15th and was considered a success.  

First published: April 6, 2024

Project Title: Santa Letters: Project 4

Type: Service Project

Operational: December 4, 2023 - December 15, 2023 (12 days)

During the months of February and March of 2024, lasting until June, Viola Beta Club members Hunter Belvedresi, Kira Duncan, Ryleigh Golden, and Abby Hutson worked together to create a website and an online store as a fundraiser for the upcoming National Convention. This store primarily focused on the selling of trading pins taken from an entry of the Arkansas State Convention. A lot was gained from this project, especially the establishment of the Viola Beta Club website and a new financial platform for future fundraisers. In addition, this project explored the boundaries of project management-- exploring programs like Google Classroom to manage other projects easily.

Click here to view the National Convention page.

First published: July 12, 2024

Project Title: Viola Trading Pin Online Store (VTPOS): Project 6

Type: Club Project/Fundraiser

Operational: February 3, 2024 - June 24, 2024 (4 months, 22 days)