Two student officers of the USI chapter of Beta Alpha Psi attended BAP's 2023 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Representing USI were Keely Fuquay, president, and Amber Collier, reporter and VP of advertising.
BAP is an honorary organization for financial information students and professionals. The annual conference gives members an opportunity to meet other students from chapters across the country, gain insights from industry speakers, and build their professional network.
Keely wrote about her experience at the annual meeting:
"When I joined Beta Alpha Psi last fall, I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas for the annual meeting. I traveled along with Amber Collier, who is another officer of the organization. The theme of this year’s annual meeting was “Reimagining the Path Forward” which is extremely relevant at this point in our lives. There were so many informative speakers who taught me so many great lessons that I can use in my professional life. I am also so grateful and excited to be able to bring back and relay the information to our chapter.
"During the meeting, Amber and I had the opportunity to volunteer at Beta Alpha Psi’s "Community Impact Day." We got to help fill pre-packaged meals for an organization called “The Pack Shack”. Between the 500+ other volunteers, we packaged over 125,000 meals. This was truly an amazing experience being able to directly impact the community around us. The “Feed the Funnel” party was an experience that was indescribable. Although we had chosen to help package meals, there were other volunteer stations including Operation Backpack and Notes of Inspiration.
"Throughout the meeting, we got to hear words of wisdom from so many experienced professionals. The speaker who impacted me the most was Simon T. Bailey DBA, CSP, CPAE. He has 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, he is a LinkedIn Learning instructor, he had a viral video with over 90 million views, and so many more accomplishments as well. He gave us so much valuable information, and there is no way I could include all of the information in just this overview. At one of our first meetings of the Fall Semester, we are planning on having an overview of the whole meeting. Until then, there are a few things that he said that really stuck out to me. “It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you aren’t.” One of his main ideas is that you are brilliant, and everyone deserves to know that. He really emphasized that failure is only feedback. Overall, we each need to release our brilliance.
"I am so grateful for the wonderful information that I received and can bring back to our chapter. I am excited to begin my journey as president of USI’s Lambda Mu chapter of Beta Alpha Psi. I hope that I can bring this information to recruit new members into this organization that I am proud to be the president of. It is such an honor to be able to lead an organization filled with current and future business professionals."
Published August 7, 2023