An exceptional rising eighth-grader has recently earned national recognition for her service work and leadership skills.

  Mary Rozier attended the Jr. Beta Club’s national convention in Oklahoma City along with nearly 20 of her fellow Eagle’s Landing Middle School students. She had previously won the state leadership representative position at an event in LaGrange, which allowed her to compete at the national level, where she also came out on top.

  Interviews, critical thinking tests and team-building activities were among the events that allowed her to showcase her skills when facing students from other states, according to her mother Sandra. She will represent her school at next summer’s convention in Texas after participating in a number of events throughout the next school year in her leadership role.

  Mary has completed 100 hours of community service in each of the past five years, earning national community service awards from presidents Obama and Trump. Last summer she collected and donated water to residents in Flint, Mich., to help with its water crisis.

  The Beta Club sponsor at ELMS is Rhonda Rozier (no relation), also Mary’s ELA teacher last year.

  “Mary is very poised and articulate,” she said. “She was outstanding in my class on all of her projects. She is very driven, likes to make all As and will give 150 percent. She is a go-getter.”

  The ELMS Beta Club had just over 90 students last year, making it a School of Distinction and a School of Merit. Those students are exposed to an organization that “emphasizes service, leadership, character and achievement,” according to Rhonda Rozier. She has been at the school since 2008, and Mary is the first ELMS student to achieve national Beta Club success at such a high level in that time.

  The group that went to Oklahoma City was able to do so because of the generosity of Dr. Hector Bush, a Henry County orthodontist who donated $10,000 toward the trip’s expenses. About 20,000 students from across the United State attended the convention, and at least that many will be on hand next summer in Ft. Worth when Mary is a part of the program.

  Meanwhile, she will work this summer on various service projects and attend a camp in Tennessee later this month where she will talk about the importance of leadership and service in the community. She is looking forward to a mission trip to the African nation of Ghana next summer, and there are plenty of Beta Club-related events during the next 12 months where she will represent her newly earned position.

  “We are so excited for her,” said her mother. “It’s good to see her get recognition for her hard work.”