Butler County Community College students have received more scholarships from the foundation of a professional organization than have students attending nearly 40 other public or private four-year colleges or universities in Pennsylvania in 2024.

The Pennsylvania Certified Public Accountant Foundation, the nonprofit organization associated with the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs, has awarded scholarships to five students in BC3’s business and information technology division and totaling $7,000.

Colton Dero, of Butler, and Julia Fletcher, of Saxonburg, received $2,000 financial awards; and Cassandra Bodenhorn, of Lucinda; Paige Dodd, of Petrolia; and Cailey Gibson, of Evans City, received $1,000 scholarships.

The number of BC3 students selected by the foundation and the total amount of their scholarships are the most since at least 2014, according to Laura Wiest, a member of BC3’s faculty and of the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs, and coordinator of the college’s accounting program.

Less than half of college applicants in 2024 received a financial award from the Pennsylvania CPA Foundation, said Amanda Paolini, an administrator with the nonprofit organization. The foundation provided scholarships to 88 students representing 43 institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania.

Only Villanova and Penn State universities had more students selected to receive a financial award than did BC3.

“We have awesome students who are headed somewhere,” Wiest said. “They are excelling in the classroom. You have to have done well and demonstrated that through your grades to receive a scholarship.”

To be eligible to receive a scholarship, community college students must be enrolled full time, intend to transfer to a four-year college or university to study accounting and have earned a minimum grade-point average of 3.0.

Dero, Dodd and Fletcher intend to pursue bachelor’s degrees in accounting from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania; Bodenhorn, from Pennsylvania Western University at Clarion and Gibson, from Franklin University.

They have also been named to BC3’s president’s list, an honor for students who have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.75 following the completion of at least 12 credit hours in a semester.

“Being selected,” Paolini said, “underscores the recipient’s academic excellence, financial need, extra-curricular involvement and strong personal endorsements.”

“These students are in for a long haul”

The Pennsylvania CPA Foundation’s mission, Paolini said, “is to inspire students to pursue careers in accounting and to provide educational, motivational and financial support to those working to attain the CPA license.”

Bodenhorn, Dero, Dodd, Fletcher and Gibson expect to seek CPA licensure in Pennsylvania.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, candidates for licensure must attain at least a bachelor’s degree and complete a minimum of 150 credit hours of post-secondary education.

“And because of that,” Wiest said, “these students are in for a long haul. Accounting is a great profession, but it requires a lot of hard work and an incredible amount of perseverance.”

Bodenhorn is a 27-year-old mother of two who attained a commonwealth secondary school diploma from the state Department of Education. She works with mentally challenged individuals, attends BC3’s virtual program in accounting and expects to graduate in May.

Dero, 20, is a Butler Senior High School graduate who works at a machine shop in Herman. The business administration student said he“ chose to go to college as three generations of my family had done labor work all their lives because they never believed they were good enough for school. I am looking to shatter that thought in our family.” He expects to graduate from BC3 in December.

Dodd, 19, is a Karns City graduate who has served as a billing intern with a Butler distributor of tubular products. The accounting and business administration student expects to graduate from BC3 in May.

Fletcher, 20, is a Mars graduate who is serving a three-month summer internship with a Butler accounting firm. The accounting student expects to graduate from BC3 in December.

“I am really glad that this scholarship will be able to cover more than half of my last semester at BC3,” Fletcher said, “and I won’t have to use as much of my own money.”

Gibson, 20, is a Seneca Valley graduate who works at a credit union and at a tax preparation firm. She earned an associate degree in accounting and graduated with honors in BC3’s Class of 2024.

She will be a guest student at BC3 this fall and hopes to one day “work among financial institutions on fraud cases that are becoming overwhelmingly prevalent.”

Regional institutions of higher education whose students received scholarships from the foundation in 2024 include Duquesne, Point Park and Robert Morris universities and the University of Pittsburgh.

Eight students attending Villanova University received a scholarship, as did seven at the Pennsylvania State University. Five students at Temple or West Chester universities were awarded scholarships.

BC3’s business and information technology division offers associate degrees, certificates or workplace certificates in 25 programs. Eleven can be completed fully online.

The college’s 62-credit associate degree program in accounting includes courses in financial accounting, business mathematics, introduction to business, managerial accounting, payroll accounting, financial management and principles of management.

BC3’s 60-credit associate degree program in business administration also includes courses in financial accounting, managerial accounting and principles of management in addition to business calculus, business statistics and marketing.

The Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs has nearly 20,000 members and is the state’s largest CPA organization, Paolini said.

A committee of members in the professional organization evaluated scholarship applications that required statements about extra-curricular activities, and a resume, essay and letter of recommendation, Paolini said. Contributions from members and accounting firms in Pennsylvania fund the financial awards, she said.