Nu Kappa Hosts BAP MidYear Meeting in Pittsburgh

Nu Kappa Hosts BAP MidYear Meeting in Pittsburgh

By: Kaleigh Timmons

On March 2 - 4, our BAP officers, President Aidan Cagner, Vice President and Treasurer Brett McCartney, Secretary Kevin Duffy, and Social Engagement Director Kaleigh Timmons; three of our BAP members, Annalisa Mechanick, Ashley Zaita, and Past-President Emma Boyle; and our faculty advisor Dr. Marcy, traveled to Pittsburgh, PA to serve as the host chapter for the BAP MidYear Meeting: Reimagining the Path Forward.

According to the event coordinators, Nu Kappa has been one of the best host chapters with which they have ever worked.

On the first day, our chapter representatives helped with setting up for the conference, checking-in attendees, and running the conference’s service event: SockItTo ‘Em. The Sock It To 'Em Sock Campaign collects new quality socks for men, women, and children experiencing homelessness and/or who are in need, with the goal of “making a social impact one pair of socks at a time”. Our members made this a fun, interactive activity by having attendees “put their laundry away” by tossing their sock donations into various laundry baskets to win prizes.

During the plenary session, President Aidan Cagner helped to introduce the two keynote speakers for the event: Tifphani White-King and Brian Ash. Tifphani is the US National Tax Practice Leader for Mazars USA. She is also a member of the Mazars Global Tax Leadership Team. Her responsibilities in these roles include creating a shared vision, setting strategic direction, and driving marketplace growth for Tax. Brian is the Director of Talent Development for Mazars USA, assisting with overall talent strategy for employee engagement and retention.

Following the plenary sessions, our members participated in a Leadership Activity where they were split into teams and tried to“Find the Fraud”. This interactive case study was a great learning experience and exposed our members to working on a team with BAP members from other schools. After the completion of this activity, the members attended various professional sessions learning about topics including Public Accounting Myths & Truths, Imposter Syndrome, Tax Implications in the Covid Era, and Demystifying the Working World. To end the evening, Dr.Marcy treated our members to their very first Brazilian steakhouse experience at Texas de Brazil, where some of our members learned the true definition of the “meat sweats”.

On the second day of the conference, our members attended Chapter Operations presentations by other BAP chapters from across the country. The purpose of these sessions is to allow chapters to share what makes their chapter a success to benefit other chapters in the future. Kaleigh Timmons and Aidan Cagner presented on behalf of Nu Kappa Chapter in the category of Meaningful ServiceProjects. During their presentation, they provided examples and details of the different community service events that our chapter hosts throughout the year emphasizing the impact we make on the local community. According to Kaleigh Timmons, “It was an amazing experience that we would not have been capable of without the help and support of our advisor, Dr.Marcy. We are eager to present again in the future!” After the closing session, our members took a trip up to the top of Mt.Washington to get one last view of the wonderful city of Pittsburgh (or as Aidan Cagner would claim,“the best city in the world”) before heading home.

On her experience, Annalisa Mechanick expressed,“Getting to attend the 2023 BAP Mid Year Meeting in Pittsburgh gave me the opportunity to develop my leadership skills, attend insightful presentations, network with BAP members from other colleges and universities, and better grow my relationships with peers from my own institution. I even got to attend a presentation on a topic I am researching this semester: ImposterSyndrome.” Our members had a fantastic time at the Mid-Year Meeting and are looking forward to attending the 2023 Annual Meeting this upcoming August in Las Vegas!