BC3 prepares its new nursing building
BUTLER TWP — Aaron Schlott started teaching at Butler County Community College in 2016, but said he never has been more excited to start a fall semester than he is now.
On Monday, July 10, Schlott started moving his belongings into his new office in the recently renovated social science building on campus, in preparation to begin teaching in the nearly completed Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building. He said he is looking forward to seeing what new education the 25,000-square-foot, single-story facility will afford students.
“The technology they put in there with all the new simulations and the rooms that look just like hospital rooms — the classrooms are fantastic now,” said Schlott, who is a nursing professor and director of health care science at BC3.
“What a learning experience and a learning environment for them,” he said.
Construction on the south campus expansion project at BC3 will wrap up with the completion of the Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building. The facility will house programs in the Shaffer School of Nursing & Allied Health, and will provide the space for the program’s growing enrollment.
“We have definitely staffed up as the program has grown,” said Brian Opitz, executive director of operations at BC3. “This is mostly the lab building, which is important for nursing. This is what we couldn't do elsewhere on campus; that's why we built the building.”
The new building began construction in January 2022, and follows other renovation projects on campus, including a revamp of the social science building’s interior. The new building was expected to cost $18.2 million, paid for through a combination of state funds totaling about $11 million, private contributions and federal grants.
The general contractor for the project is R.A. Glancy & Sons, and there were four other contractors for plumbing, electric, HVAC and fire protection, Opitz said.
Opitz also said the facility will be ready by the college’s fall orientation session Aug. 16, and custodial staff and some contractor staff were touching up its inside Monday. Staff soon will move equipment from the former nursing facility — which Opitz said likely will be unoccupied in the future — into the new building.
“We're working with the rest of the staff for the delivery for equipment,” Opitz said. “There are a couple summer classes going on, but they'll shut in early August. As soon as they are done, we'll move equipment over.”
One entrance to the building is connected by a newly built awning that connects the nursing and allied health building to the social sciences building. Walking through that entrance leads to an open lobby area with hallways on the left side that lead to different lab areas and classroom spaces.
In addition to large classrooms with space for lab work, the facility simulates a “hospital feel” and has patient rooms that will allow some students to practice on mannequins as the instructor and other students watch through an observation window.
“Most of the technology has to do with nursing training,” Opitz said of the different hallways. “These will be set up as actual patient rooms, single beds, where we'll put the mannequins.
“There is a control room, so the instructor sits in here and can control the mannequin. What's important is the rest of the class being able to observe, so this is set up as an observation area,” he said.
The last time BC3 erected a building was about 13 years ago, when the student success center was built. Schlott said that having a building created around the needs of BC3’s nursing and allied health program will make for a more in-depth education for students.
“With that old facility we had, we were behind,” he said. “Now with this, there's more room, more space for students to learn.”
Schlott also is optimistic about community interest that the new Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building will bring to BC3.
“I imagine students want to see this stuff, and they want to come because they have these updated materials that they can use,” Schlott said.
The facility will have enough space to host several classes at a time, in an era when the nursing program at BC3 is expanding.
“I think the program is set up for 150 students,” Opitz said.
Megan Coval, executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation and external relations, reported to the school’s council of trustees a number of times during construction the amount in donations the school raised for the new building.
BC3 and the BC3 Education Foundation embarked on a fundraising campaign to help pay for the construction of the Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building in the years since the project was announced.
The BC3 Education Foundation as of June 30 received $6.7 million in private contributions and pledges from 108 donors toward the construction of the Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building, including four donations of $1 million.
“It’s a very touching and nice thing to see,” Coval said previously.
