The 2024 NAFUSA annual conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (OKC)
begins September 25 with an opening reception in The National Hotel, the
amazing venue for this year’s conference program. Registration for the
conference will begin in early summer and planning is well underway for
another great conference.

One of the many highlights of OKC is the Oklahoma City National Memorial
and Museum, the site of the former Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which
was destroyed in the bombing on April 19, 1995. The brutal act of violence
killed 168 people, seriously injured hundreds more, and changed the lives of
many more forever. The Outdoor Symbolic Memorial was dedicated on April
19, 2000, and the Memorial Museum was dedicated on Presidents’Day
February 19, 2001. The Museum is an interactive learning experience that
takes visitors on self-guided tours through the story of the events of April 19,
1995, and the years that followed. Since its opening, more than 4.4 million
visitors have come to the Outdoor Symbolic Memorial and over 1.6 million to
the Memorial Museum.

The impact of the bombing and mass murder at the Murrah Federal Building
and the investigations and prosecutions that followed are especially felt by
members of the law enforcement community in Oklahoma and across the
country. An estimated 646 people were inside the building when the bomb
exploded, including children at a daycare center. During the course of the
investigation, over 28,000 interviews were conducted, and 3200 kg of
evidence collected. The prosecutions, federal and state, took years. Many
NAFUSA members were involved in the investigation and subsequent trials
and their names memorialized in the museum.

Because of the significance of the events of April 19, 1995, to NAFUSA
members, VIP tours are being arranged with the museum for Thursday
afternoon, September 26, as a part of the OKC conference. The tours will be
guided by museum staff in staggered small groups for all those who wish to
take advantage of the opportunity. More details on this and other program
highlights to come!