Black History Month: Cameron Shropshire, a Spears accounting student and president of AABSA

Friday, February 18, 2022

Media Contact: Bailey Stacy | Communications Coordinator, Marketing & Communications | 405-744-2700 | bailey.stacy@okstate.edu

Throughout my five years at Oklahoma State, I have met many remarkable business professionals who I look up to and have even asked to get to know them beyond their résumé. Whether it was their current position, past work experience, research, awards/accomplishments they received or their overall personality, I was determined to set myself apart and try to build a relationship with them. 

My most recent mentor is Dr. Alexis Smith Washington or on a more casual note, Lex. It wasn’t the fact that we had the same name that caught my eye. It was her passion for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, her dedication to supporting women across all industries, her knowledge of emotional intelligence, and lastly, how kind and inviting she was to everyone she came in contact with. She is well-known, trusted, involved throughout Spears and I am lucky to call her not only a mentor but a friend.

I asked her who she thinks would be a great person to talk to about Black History Month and she recommended current business student, Cameron Shropshire. Shropshire is an accounting student and is the president of African American Business Students Association. He is planning on graduating in fall of 2023 and then hopes to receive his master’s in accounting and become a CPA. This summer he plans on working at the HoganTaylor office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, through their audit/tax split internship. When it comes to Black History Month, here are his thoughts and opinions. 

Is there a specific event throughout history that stood out to you most and why?
I remember the night Barack Obama got elected president like it was yesterday. I was six years old and I had a bedtime of 8 p.m. However, that night my parents let me stay up as our whole family crowded around the living room TV, awaiting the results. It was such a beautiful and inspiring experience to see someone with the same skin color as me hold the highest office in the land. Regardless of political affiliation, I felt like it had the same effect on a lot of young black boys across the country. Just seeing representation in a space that has a long history of not being diverse, motivated me to work hard toward my goals and be courageous when navigating spaces that don't traditionally look like me.

Favorite Black History Documentary/ies?
One of my all-time favorite films regarding black history is Red Tails. This 2012 film captures the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, a black pilot group during World War II. I grew up a military child and have visited Tuskegee, Alabama many times while living in the South, so this film was a joy to watch. I think it does a great job of displaying the struggles faced by minorities in the military as well as in their daily lives. I also am a huge track and field fan, so I really enjoyed the movie named Race. It is about Jesse Owens and his experiences participating at the 1936 Olympics in a Nazi controlled Germany. To see the courage he had to enter such a hostile environment and be successful was very encouraging to me as a young black male.

Who is your favorite Civil Rights activist and why?
My favorite Civil Rights activist is Frederick Douglass. Looking at his life, I see perseverance much like every minority group has displayed in this country, but more than anything, I see a trailblazer. After escaping from slavery, Douglass shocked a lot of northerners with how well he spoke, wrote and carried himself. This led people to forget that he was even a slave at one point. My goal in life as an African American is to be able to carry myself as well as Douglass did in an effort to break down the stereotypes that many minorities face today.

Story By: Alexis Hightower | alexis.hightower@okstate.edu