Students from Cashion High School’s Business Professionals of America (BPA) chapter were among the 6,500 attendees representing nearly 800 school chapters who attended the 2024 BPA National Leadership Conference in Chicago, Ill., May 10-14.

Two of them were also part of making history. Makayla Adams and Thomas Branson were elected as BPA Secondary national executive officers.

Adams will serve as the national parliamentarian and Branson as the secretary.

It’s the first time two Oklahomans have ever been elected BPA national officers in the same year...much less from the same high school.

Oklahoma CareerTech acknowledged the groundbreaking feat in an Instagram post: “We’re thrilled to share the exciting news: Oklahoma has achieved a historic milestone as we proudly announce that, for the first time ever, we have not just one, but two National BPA Officers!”

Adams and Branson are both outgoing Oklahoma BPA officers. Adams served the last year as president and Branson as the vice president.

The two are set to graduate Cashion High School this Friday and both plan to attend the University of Central Oklahoma.

“I can’t begin to say how proud I am of Makayla and Thomas for stepping out of their comfort zone to campaign not only for the Oklahoma state officer positions, but for the national officer positions,” said Teresa Karnes, Cashion’s BPA adviser.

While in Chicago, students vied for top honors in BPA’s Workplace Skill Assessment Program competitions, which cover the areas of business administration; digital communication and design; finance; health administration; information technology; and management, marketing and communication.

Conference participants also attended professional development workshops, received awards for community service activities and elected BPA’s 2024–2025 national student leadership team.

Several Cashion students had success.

The team of Branson and Adilee Jerry qualified to compete at nationals in video production and Gibson Lee qualified in Linux Operating System fundamentals.

Lee, Kendra Bryant, Logan Wilburn and Makayla Hines were recognized for completing the Student Certifi cation Series and Adams and Branson received the Ambassador Torch Award.

“I’d like to say how proud I am of the Cashion BPA students who have worked so hard to achieve these awards,” Karnes said. The Cashion chapter received the following National BPA Cares Awards: • Honorable mention for Membership Explosion with a 45% increase of members from 29 to 42; • Honorable mention for Safety Awareness; • Honorable mention for Marketing and Communications Award;

• Honorable mention for Recruiter of the Year, and,

• Quality Chapter Distinction, one out of 93 chapters nationally to receive this award.

“Participating in the National Leadership Conference is the culmination of a year’s work for our student members and their advisors,” said Dr. Steven J. Mitchell, BPA’s executive director/CEO.

“We applaud all of these members who demonstrated workplace skills in competitive events, gained new insights by participating in workshops, earned valuable industry certifications, or were recognized for individual or chapter achievements.”

While in Chicago, participants also had opportunities to network with other BPA members and business leaders, visit famous attractions in the region, and participate in several community service activities honoring the Special Olympics, BPA’s national service project.