Community college campus back in action for fall semester
BUTLER TWP — Angelina Marx swung on a hammock she strung up between two trees Monday, Aug. 21, using her downtime to relax and talk to other students who also had class on the first day of Butler County Community College’s fall semester.
Marx, a BC3 sophomore from Zelienople, said she was happy to be back at school — and on BC3’s main campus instead of its Cranberry Township one — because it gives her a place to meet people and make friends.
“I don’t get a lot of socialization outside of school,” Marx said. “I met some of my closest friends through college.”
The fall semester began Monday at BC3, bringing with it not only students who are brand new to the school, but also to the new nursing and allied health building which was completed over the summer.
Torey O’Donnell, BC3’s associate director of student life, said the office’s staff kicked off the semester Friday with a welcome day for new and transfer students, and spent Monday morning greeting students and helping them find their destinations.
The start of a new academic year is still exciting to O’Donnell, no matter how many times she welcomes students and staff back to campus.
“The whole campus is back alive,” O’Donnell said. “It rejuvenates the faculty and staff as well to be back on campus.”
The excitement for a new semester extended to people across the college community. Ashlee Esplen, a professor in the physical therapy assistant and massage programs, said this year is “triple exciting,” because of the opening of the Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building. She said she couldn’t sleep over the weekend because of the anticipation of teaching in a new space that dwarfs her old stomping grounds.
“I moved from basement to basement to basement,” Esplen said of her past experience teaching at BC3. “The lab space doubled … we used to share lab equipment with the massage program.”
Nicole Cardello, a second-year physical therapy assistant student at BC3 from Harrisville, didn’t know she would eventually be taking classes in a brand-new building when she enrolled at the college. She stepped into the Victor K. Phillips facility Monday with a smile.
“I didn’t come here with the intention of being in a whole new building,” Cardello said. “We started the first year in the old building … there is a lot more space here.”
Cardello explained that she went into the physical therapy assistant program at BC3 because her sister, grandfather and uncle all went through physical therapy in the past for various reasons, and she liked helping them get through it.
“My uncle also had a hip replacement and I helped him through that,” Cardello said. “I like helping people; if I can help someone out, I will try to do that however I can.”
Students and staff members seemed to have extra pep in their steps as they walked on the outdoor pathways on campus between classes. According to O’Donnell, the student life department has activities planned throughout the semester to keep students active, and most of the events taking place early in the year are used as ice breakers.
“We have to get creative in how we get students involved,” O’Donnell said. “We start off with a lot of laid-back activities to get students interested.”
Evan Thompson of Mars, a first-year biology major at BC3, sat with Marx and Andrue Huffman, a sophomore engineering student from Butler, in-between classes Monday. He said being back at school gives his schedule more structure and a chance to be out of the house.
“We love it here,” Thompson said.
