Hundreds collect their diplomas at BC3 commencement
BUTLER TWP — Butler County Community College hosted what its president, Nick Neupauer, called the “Super Bowl” of the community college year Wednesday.
More than 500 students were eligible for graduation this semester, and many attended one of five walk-through ceremonies scheduled throughout the day in the campus’ green space.
The Super Bowl comparison was fitting for Daniel Evans, who graduated with an Associate Degree in business administration after taking classes at BC3 for seven years.
“I’m pretty excited and happy to be done,” the Mars resident said. “I started working part-time while going here so I was doing classes pretty slow since 2016.”
Each of the five commencement ceremonies was dedicated to different groups of students based on the major or program they were in at BC3. About 25 to 50 students attended each ceremony, which lasted about 45 minutes.
Prior to 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic remolded the graduation ceremony into a drive through event, the college hosted its commencement ceremonies indoors with all students attending.
In addition to the setup for the commencement ceremonies, BC3 also placed tents throughout the campus, where graduates could meet with members of the alumni association, receive gift bags filled with college merchandise, get their photos taken with their diplomas and receive a meal before leaving.
Neupauer said the commencement’s change in format doesn’t mean it was any less important, especially to the students who worked hard to earn their degrees.
“Last year, we did a walk-through event and we decided to stick with it another year because of the feedback,” Neupauer said. “A lot of work goes into it and we try to make it as special as possible for our students and their families.”
The keynote speaker at all of the ceremonies was John Reddick, an architect, senior associate and project manager for Stantec, and a 1984 graduate of BC3.
“Our being increases in the measure that we give it away,” Reddick said. “The key to living a successful life is love.”
Many of the graduates dealt with policy changes that happened at BC3 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, including Kristen Krizner, a business administration major from Butler. Krizner said online classes were a challenge, but she was pleasantly surprised by them, and other aspects of community college.
“I was pretty worried about taking online classes but I actually enjoyed them,” Krizner said. “I really enjoyed speech which was one of the classes that I wasn’t thinking I was actually going to enjoy.”
The campus was filled with proud parents and family members, who applauded and cheered for their loved ones as their names were read on stage, and accompanied them through the tent path once their ceremonies were over.
Possibly no two people were more proud of one another than Anthony Figlio and Xiomara Sanchez, both from Cranberry Township.
The two resolved to attend BC3 together shortly after they began dating two years ago, and despite some obstacles of timing and COVID, they managed to graduate at the same ceremony.
“We kept getting different deadlines throughout our journey,” said Sanchez, a human resource management major. “At once point I was supposed to graduate in December, he was supposed to graduate now, then it flipped, and then we happened to graduate together. The universe happens in mysterious ways.”
Figlio said he will look back on his time at BC3 positively, despite the challenges he and many other students faced because of COVID.
“I’m so proud of you, I’m proud of us,” said Figlio, an HVAC systems major. “Like everyone else here, the pandemic hit and kind of put a snag into plans and we graduated a little later because of it, but I’m so proud of us.”
