Lafargue Beta students shine at national convention in Nashville

By Donna Culotta

Summer brought success for two Lafargue Beta students, Chance Dauzat and Rob Luneau, at the National Beta Club Convention held in Nashville, Tennessee.

Held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Conference Center, the gathering brought the best of the best in Beta from around the country to strut their stuff.

Chance Dauzat, 12 years old and now in the 7th grade at Marksville High School, submitted a T-shirt design with the Beta motto, “Wired For Success.” He came home from Nashville with a fourth place out of many entries.

“The judges call out the winners and my heart was racing,” he recalled. “It was very exciting to win the trophy.”

Chance joined Beta in the 4th grade at Lafargue Elementary in Effie.

“In order to go to the Cajun Dome for the State Beta Convention, you had to sign up and submit something,” Chance explained. He went on to say he “voluntarily submitted.”

Since he “sometimes likes to draw” he took the current Beta motto and transferred it to a T-shirt design.

After adding color, the Beta sponsor at Lafargue made a transfer and they put it on a T-shirt.

“I was surprised I won,” he remarked, “after we placed our apparel, we could walk around and see what else had been submitted. I saw a lot of good pieces of clothing.”

But win he did and it qualified him for the National Convention.

His family made the trip to Tennessee as a get-away and his mother, father and grandmother all came along.

“The win has motivated me to do apparel again,” Chance commented.

Math is his favorite subject and his future plans do not include designing T-shirts. Chance plans on becoming an underwater welder.

Rob Luneau is 10 years old, in the fifth grade at Lafargue and in his second year of Beta.

His entry to State Beta Club Convention in Lafayette was a papier-mache 4-foot alligator.

The project started on Thanksgiving break and was finished in February. Rob said, “It took a lot longer than I thought it would.”

His mother, Katie Luneau, was his support and cheering section. She said, “He did everything himself but I used the glue gun.”

The alligator was formed with cardboard then wrapped with papier-mache. It took more than four layers and each layer had to dry completely.

“We used craft paper instead of newspaper,” Rob explained, “because it’s heavier and used wall paper glue instead of regular glue. It’s very sturdy but not that heavy.”

After it was dry, he spray painted it with a mixture of colors including green, brown, white, black and gray.

“I put a smile on his face and painted his eyes yellow,” Rob said. “We call him George.” Entries required a title, which Rob said was “Trouble in the Bayou.” and paperwork. Trent Luneau, Rob’s father, wrapped George in trash bags and transported him in the back of his truck. He was taken to Lafayette and Nashville the same way. George had to again have special handling by Trent as he carried the alligator over his head through the crowds so there would be no bumping into it.

Winning fourth place at state qualified Rob to go onto national, where he won fifth place. He thanks his social studies teacher Mr. Josh and Beta sponsor, Timothy.

Rob has already decided he’ll make a papier-mache rooster next year and has been collecting feathers and pine cones.

Moving forward, Rob has his eye on another prize. “I’m running for State Beta president next year in Lafayette. My campaign slogan is “Rock With Rob.”

Congratulations to both these young men!