BC3 event to raise funds for scholarships in memory of recent nursing grads
An inaugural community event Sept. 24 will help Butler County Community College alumni and student groups raise funds for scholarships, including those in memory of recent nursing graduates who died at 23 and 26.
Pioneer Pursuit Fall 2022 will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Shaffer Walking Trail on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township.
Proceeds from a 5K race, 1-mile walk, children’s 100-meter dash, sponsorships and a basket raffle will benefit BC3 Education Foundation scholarships created by family and friends of Sarah Kasunic in 2019 and of Caitlyn Kaufman in 2020.
Kasunic, a 2013 graduate of Knoch High School, earned an associate degree in nursing from BC3 in 2016. Kasunic, formerly of Jefferson Township, died March 23, 2019, as a result of a car accident in Knoxville, Tenn., where she was living and working as a traveling nurse.
Kaufman, formerly of Chicora and a 2012 graduate of Butler Senior High School, earned an associate degree in nursing from BC3 in 2018. She died outside Nashville, Tenn., in December 2020 in what was believed to be a road rage incident. Two men are awaiting trial in her death.
Kaufman was employed as an intensive care unit nurse at a Nashville hospital.
Pioneer Pursuit Fall 2022 “will remind me of Sarah,” said Margaret Kasunic, Sarah’s mother. “And for future students, their attaining the goal of a nursing degree will be made easier for them.”
“Hopefully,” said Tom Kasunic, Sarah’s father, “this will increase the amount in the scholarship for nursing students in the years ahead.”
“We have her scholarship with BC3 so that she can continue to give back to future nursing students,” said Diane Kaufman, Caitlyn’s mother. “It’s very important to us that her memory, and her scholarship, continue.”
The college’s Alumni Association and its Rho Phi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international academic honor society, are organizing the event, said Mikayla Moretti, director of special events for the BC3 Education Foundation.
“The two families,” Moretti said, “are very important to us at the foundation.”
Pioneer Pursuit Fall 2022 is also expected to include vendors and food concessions, Moretti said.
The 5K and a 30-minute yoga session begin at 9 a.m.; the 1-mile walk at 9:15 and the children’s 100-meter dash at 9:45 a.m.
Medals to 5K placewinners and to all children’s 100-meter-dash participants will be awarded at 10:30 a.m., Moretti said.
The Sarah Kasunic ’16 Scholarship and the Caitlyn Kaufman ’18 Legacy Nursing Scholarship are endowed and available to students enrolled full time in BC3’s Nursing, R.N., program who have a minimum grade-point average of 3.0.
Three BC3 students have received the Kasunic scholarship and two the Kaufman scholarship, said Bobbi Jo Cornetti, development coordinator for the BC3 Education Foundation.
Funds raised from Pioneer Pursuit 2022 will also benefit endowed BC3 Alumni Legacy Scholarships, Moretti said.
Nine BC3 Alumni Legacy Scholarships, and those in memory of Kasunic and Kaufman, are among the 148 awarded by the BC3 Education Foundation to BC3 students in the 2022-2023 academic year.
The BC3 Education Foundation in 2022-2023 has awarded a record $260,000 in scholarships, Cornetti said.
BC3 Alumni Legacy Scholarships are available to BC3 students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and who are a child or grandchild of a former BC3 student who has earned at least 30 credits at the college.
For more information, visit bc3.edu.
Bill Foley is coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College.
