BC3 students to be honored in Harrisburg, awarded scholarships to complete bachelor’s degrees
Two Butler County Community College students will receive full-tuition scholarships toward completing a bachelor’s degree at a Pennsylvania public four-year institution of their choice.
Olivia Collins, of Butler, and Maddison Tripp, of Sarver, will be honored Monday, March 27, in Harrisburg as selections to Phi Theta Kappa’s 2023 All-Pennsylvania Academic Team.
Phi Theta Kappa is an international academic honor society for two-year colleges and programs. Its All-Pennsylvania Academic Team is composed of students enrolled in transfer programs at a Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges institution such as BC3.
Phi Theta Kappa chapter advisers annually nominate top student applicants to the All-Pennsylvania Academic Team based on the students’ excellence in the classroom and dedication to their community college and communities.
Collins is president and Tripp secretary of Rho Phi, BC3’s 55-year-old chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. Both have been named to BC3’s president’s or dean’s lists since fall 2021.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education has funded scholarships for All-Pennsylvania Academic Team selections since 2001.
Collins, 19, plans to transfer to Slippery Rock University and Tripp, 20, to Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
A 2021 graduate of Butler Senior High School, Collins plans to graduate from BC3 in May with an associate degree in business administration and with a certificate in accounting. She intends to pursue a bachelor’s degree in accounting toward a career as a certified public accountant.
“I would love to help people with their taxes and their finances,” Collins said.
She volunteers with roadside cleanups and at fundraisers through Rho Phi — “Giving back to the community that has done so much for me, and for so many others, is so rewarding and incredibly important to me,” she said — and works in customer service at a car dealership and at a coffee house in downtown Butler.
Tripp, a 2021 graduate of Armstrong Junior-Senior High, expects to graduate from BC3 in August with an associate degree in general studies. She intends to pursue a bachelor’s degree in speech language pathology and hopes to become a speech language pathologist.
“I want to be able to make a difference in the lives of those living in my community with speech and swallowing disorders,” Tripp said. “I want to help them to reach goals that will improve their self-esteem and their overall quality of life.”
She volunteers to decorate the Ford City Public Library during the holidays, and to organize its community enrichment events that include reading and crafts programs, and fundraisers.
“These experiences are crucial not only for the development of, but the strengthening of, a community,” Tripp said.
She also works as a peer tutor at BC3 and for students in grades kindergarten through 12 at the Ford City and Kittanning public libraries.
All-Pennsylvania Academic Team selections must have earned a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.5 while completing at least 36 credits.
Collins is also a BC3 student ambassador, a member of BC3’s Delta Kappa chapter of Kappa Beta Delta, an international honor society for business students, and is enrolled in BC3’s president’s scholars program.
BC3 student ambassadors assist with college events such as open houses and commencement, and conduct campus tours for prospective students and their families.
New members of Phi Theta Kappa and of Kappa Beta Delta must have a grade-point average of at least 3.5.
Students who have completed at least 12 credit hours toward an associate degree or six credit hours toward a one-year certificate and who meet academic requirements are eligible for membership in Rho Phi.
Students who have completed at least 12 credit hours in BC3’s business division, who are pursuing an associate degree in a business program and who meet academic requirements are eligible for membership in Delta Kappa, formed at BC3 in 2019.
The president’s scholars program is in its ninth year at BC3. The full-tuition waiver for up to 18 credits is available to students in the Top 10 percent of their graduating class and who have achieved at least a 3.5 grade-point average at any of Butler County’s public high schools.
A cyber school student counted in those public schools’ graduating classes is also eligible. Students must also enroll at BC3 in the first semester following their high school graduation to be eligible for the program, and are required to take scholars-only courses and maintain at least a 3.5 grade-point average at BC3.
Bill Foley is coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College.
