Happy New Year, Oklahoma BPA! As we begin our journey through 2022, you are probably setting goals for what you want to achieve this year in BPA.

Business Professionals of America provides many goals for you to achieve throughout the membership year. There are Torch Awards, Recruiter of the Year awards, chapter recognition awards, the Oklahoma BPA Star Chapter Program, and many other opportunities!

One of the best ways I have been able to achieve my goals in my BPA career is to make sure I understand the requirements before beginning to work on it. One of my goals for this year is obtain the Ambassador Torch Award, before I started working towards Torch Awards, I looked through the Torch Award Handbook and made sure I knew how many points I needed, what activities I wanted to do, and the steps I could take early to work towards the point requirements.

Setting goals with a group of friends, your chapter, or your officer team is a great way to accomplish goals and have fun along the way! In December, my fellow members of the State Executive Council and I went and accomplished a goal of ours which was to do some volunteer service as a team.

Even if you aren’t quite ready to take on the challenge of achieving one of our Star Chapter Awards, the Star Chapter Program is still a great way to see what is available in BPA and look for goals to complete!

Once you achieve a goal, take some time to celebrate your accomplishment and evaluate how you did in your efforts to achieve it. Whether your celebration is by yourself, with your chapter, or at a conference, the fact you were able to set a goal and fulfill it is something to be proud of.

When you see a successful person and wish you could be like them, take a second to step back and recognize that they are successful because they are willing to push to accomplish their goals no matter the difficulty.

-Dillon Henry

State Vice President