Two Butler County Community College graduates will be honored Saturday for both their professional success and their commitment to the community.

Shanea Clancy and Ivory Dunlap were the 19th class of BC3 Distingushed alumni, and as we learned in the Friday edition of the Butler Eagle, the honors are well deserved.

Clancy is employed with the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in Washington, D.C. Dunlap is director of the Office for Inclusive Excellence at Slippery Rock University.

Clancy, who graduated from Seneca Valley High School in 2004, earned 64 credits at BC3 from 2004 to 2007.

She went on to earn a nursing diploma from West Penn Hospital; a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master's in forensic nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice, and is pursuing an executive Master of Business Administration degree in health care.

Dunlap graduated from Butler Senior High School in 1991 and earned an associate degree in early childhood education (Pre-K through fourth grade) from BC3 in 1996.

She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in student affairs in higher education.

Both are a reminder of exactly what a community college education can prepare students for: nearly anything. Students have the opportunity to pursue an associate degree, take general education courses in preparation for a bachelor’s degree from another institution or earn a certification and start a career.

Education is one of the keys to success in the modern world, and BC3's distinguished alumni, both Clancy and Dunlap and the 54 previous honorees, are examples of exactly how far that can take you.

That Clancy and Dunlap used their education to help others makes them that much more deserving of the award.

— JK