Kaley Patterson
Copy Editor
@KaleyKayPatt
Four Cameron alumni spoke at the biweekly Lawton Business Women’s luncheon meeting, held for the first time at Cameron from 12-1 on Aug. 27 in the McCasland Ballroom.
One of the alumni was Brandi Whatley, who graduated from Cameron in 1995 with a Bachelor in Accounting. Whatley is the Vice President and Assistant to the President/CEO at City National Bank and has been a member of the LBW for three years.
“For me, Lawton Business Women has been a way for me to connect with other business women in the community, not only for professional reasons but also personal reasons,” Whatley said.
Whatley said that through LBW she has gained networking opportunities and has learned through the different speakers they have at each meeting about opportunities for her to serve the community.
During Whatley’s speech she spoke how LBW and its members have benefited her during her high and low moments in life. Whatley also talked about her time at Cameron and how she benefited from making connections in campus organizations her senior year.
“Our resources are very limited when first going into the job field,” Whatley said. “I personally found that many of times it’s who you know that will help you get an early start on finding those opportunities.”
Along with presenting young women with career opportunities, the LBW hold two fundraisers a year that fund their scholarship program, which is awarded to students who graduate from any of the local high schools that plan to attend Cameron University or Great Plains Technology Center.
One of the speakers was a recipient of the LBW scholarship, Johnna Holden, who was on the Cameron golf team and graduated this in 2014. The other speakers and alumni were Dianne Denham and Angela Ellis.
Amy Shelton, a senior Business major who joined LBW at the luncheon, had met LBW member Yvonne Moore through the Business organization Delta Sigma Pi who then introduced her to the organization.
Shelton said that Moore and Cameron Instructor of Business J. Beth Hinkle are the ones who have talked about bringing LBW to Cameron.
According to Shelton, they wanted LBW on campus “to help facilitate relationships with faculty and students since a lot of the time they can’t get off campus to go to the meetings. We wanted to bring it to them.”
The LBW usually meets at the Lawton Country Club twice a month, but this is their first time meeting at Cameron.
“We really wanted to get them [LBW] here on campus,” Shelton said. “Not only to show them the facilities, but to really get them mixed up with the students and faculty.”
Shelton said that LBW wanted to come to Cameron to introduce themselves to the young women on campus to potentially provide them with networking and possible mentorships.
“We have actually talked to Dr. Rose Lepien, the president of Lawton Business Women, about getting a Lawton Business Women’s student chapter here at Cameron,” Shelton said. “That is something that we’re going to look into and see if we can get that started this semester.”
LBW accepts anyone who wants to participate. Students are allowed to join and at a discounted membership rate.