The Kinder Middle School Beta organization placed third in the nation at a virtual convention held this summer with the student’s scene re-enactment from Little Women.
In January, the local Beta organization, composed of fifth graders, competed in the Living Literature Competition at the Beta State Convention and placed first. “The competition requires students to convey one scene from a work of literature. It must be student constructed and executed. Students must convey the action and emotion of the scene while staying frozen during the entire judging period,” organizers said. “They also had to write a description of the scene for display purposes. Our group chose the Christmas scene from Little Women.”
Sponsors Erin Betrand and Terri Pitre instructed students to research their parts in September of 2019. Students began practicing, often giving up their recess time, as well as time after school to perfect the scene. When the students placed first at the state level, they qualified to compete at the national convention where thousands of honor students from across the nation were scheduled to be in Fort Worth Texas. Because of the pandemic, the competition was held virtually.
“We created the virtual presentation using video and photos from state competition, because students couldn’t recreate the scene under social distancing guidelines,” Amanda Courville, parent liaison, said.
Parents and students were excited to learn on Friday, July 17, the Kinder Middle Beta Club had placed third overall. Parents who helped the students set-up their scene were Chere Fontenot and Brit Bogart.
Students and their roles included:
•Abbie Savant (daughter of Eric and Sadie Savant) portrayed Mrs. March.
•Grace Courville (daughter of Jake and Amanda Courville) was Meg March.
•Kayleigh Rodriquez (daughter of Bruce and Jennifer Rodriquez) was Mr. Brook.
•Akira Bellow (daughter of Charlene Bellow and Patrick Goffney) was Mr. March.
•Stratton Bogart (daughter of William and Britt Bogart) was Amy March.
•Zachary Lafargue (son of David and Megan Lafargue) was Laurie.
•Cara Vidrine (daughter of Nick and Candice Vidrine) was Jo March.
•Khloe Fontenot (daughter of Tora and Chere Fontenot) was Beth March.
•Emma Boudreaux (daughter of Jordan and Brooke Boudreaux) was Hannah (the cook).
Helpers on set included:
•Marley Courville (daughter of Adam and Kayla Courville).
•Gillian Green (daughter of Joe and Reba Green).
•Jackson Crawford (son of Russ and Jill Crawford).
Understudy was:
•Tatum Broussard (daughter of Brooke Pitre).
“Special thanks to all parents for their support of this endeavor,” said organizers. “Also thanks to Randall Lafleur State Farm for sponsoring backdrop and to Kim Tyler at Daytrex for backdrop painting.
The organization extended its gratitude to Marcia Miller, principal at Kinder Elementary.
