As the winner of the Texas Junior Beta secretary spot was called out on Feb. 13, cheers erupted from the Aubrey ISD schools gathered in Grapevine.
Emma Garcia, a McNabb Middle School student, earned her spot on the state leadership stage.
“It means so much to me that I had so much support from everyone to get me … into that position,” she said.
Emma hopes being state secretary will be “a good life experience that might help me later on in life.”
Winning that role means Emma will have the option of running for a national officer position.
“I’m trying to figure that out,” she said.
Her mother, Stacie Garcia, was all smiles.
“I am so proud of her to see her work so hard, to get up in front of those people with confidence and just work hard at something that she really wanted,” she said.
Stacie was also proud to see her oldest, Lily Garcia, work hard with the other McNabb students during the campaign skit for Emma.
“It was very sweet to have that sister support just the whole way through,” Stacie said.
Among the other students who qualified for nationals was Owens Middle School eighth-grader Lucas Wagley, who competed in the solo, duo and trio performance event.
Dressed in all black, Wagley stood on stage, holding the microphone.
As he took his cue in the music during the preliminary round, the crowd reacted to his rendition of “Long Black Train.”
Around 3,000 people watched Wagley perform in the finals, with which he earned a second-place finish to add to his premiere performer honor.
“It was like a rollercoaster,” he said, “terrifying at first, and then exhilarating.”
Overall, the Aubrey, Collinsville and Tioga schools had many students qualify at the state convention across the elementary, junior and senior Beta levels.
Aubrey High School earned 29 Top 5 awards with two students named as the premier performers, Collinsville High School took home 11 Top 5 awards and Tioga High School had one Top 5 finisher.
McNabb Middle School had 26 Top 5 finishers in addition to Emma’s election to the state officer board and three dancers named premier performers, Owens Middle School earned 18 Top 5 awards along with Wagley’s premier performer award and Tioga Middle School had one Top 5 winner.
Brockett Elementary brought home 28 Top 5 plaques; Fuller Elementary won 19 Top 5 honors; Monaco Elementary claimed 15 Top 5 spots and a premier performer for elementary singer; West Elementary had 11 Top 5 finishers; and Tioga Elementary had three Top 5 winners.
The full list of winners can be found at betaclub. org/event-winners under Senior and Junior divisions for 2025-2026 for Texas.
Owens Middle School eighth grader Lucas Wagley charms the crowd with his take on “Long Black Train” at the State Junior Beta Convention. Abigail Bardwell/The Post-Signal
