(Ford City, PA) Mallory Busch decided not to pursue chemistry in college, only to find BC3 @ Armstrong has plenty of it.
“You actually get to know people because the classes are smaller,” Busch said of Butler County Community College’s additional location in Manor Township. “You can actually make new friendships.”
Busch said she made 10 friends at BC3 @ Armstrong – “I didn’t know them prior to coming here” – found an interest to replace chemistry, and with an associate degree in psychology was among BC3 @ Armstrong’s Class of 2021.
Busch, 20, of Leechburg, graduated cum laude, an honor for those with a grade-point average of 3.25 to 3.49.
She had also been named to the college’s dean’s list, for those with a grade-point average of 3.5 to 3.74 during a semester in which they attained at least 12 credits.
“Enjoyed learning about people”
Busch had taken chemistry courses in her junior and senior years at Leechburg Middle-Senior High School and, she said, “I liked it. But I didn’t feel prepared to study chemistry in college. I didn’t think it would be best to pursue chemistry if I did not feel comfortable with it.”
Busch enrolled as a general studies major at BC3 @ Armstrong – “There were lots of good things I heard about BC3 @ Armstrong,” she said – and began to take psychology courses.
There was general psychology. Psychology of human relationships. Human growth and development. Abnormal psychology. And others.
“I learned to like psychology,” Busch said. “I liked learning about the history of how psychology has evolved, the theories, different disorders, how people get through them.
“It is interesting to learn what goes on in the mental state of people. I just really enjoyed learning about people.”
Psychology, business administration and general studies are transfer programs offered at BC3 @ Armstrong. Psychology, business administration and general studies were also among the top five programs in which associate degrees were awarded in the college’s 53rd annual commencement May 19.
Kittanning man, 64, college’s most-senior grad in 2021
Students at BC3 @ Armstrong can also take most of the in-person classes that lead to associate degrees in two career programs, business management and technical trades-cosmetology management; and that lead to a certificate in business skills. BC3 @ Armstrong students can take the remainder of the classes needed for those career programs and certificate online.
BC3 @ Armstrong’s credits transfer to public, private and online four-year colleges and universities.
Busch intends to transfer to Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology toward her career goal of becoming a school psychologist.
She was among the expected 461 students who earned associate degrees in career or in transfer programs, or certificates or workplace certificates in the college’s Class of 2021.
The college expected to award 436 associate degrees and 46 certificates or workplace certificates, according to Becky Smith, BC3’s associate director of records and registration.
The college’s Class of 2021 included John Dougan, of Kittanning and at 64 BC3’s most senior graduate in 2021; 23 students receiving two associate degrees or certificates; residents of 17 Pennsylvania counties and eight student-veterans.
Groundbreaking on horizon for new BC3 @ Armstrong
The college announced in January $2.22 million in public-private support toward the construction of an approximately 13,900-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Ford City to succeed BC3 @ Armstrong’s 5½-year-old location in nearby Manor Township.
The BC3 @ Armstrong facility in Ford City is intended to accommodate an enrollment increase as high as 426 percent.
Groundbreaking could begin this summer and the facility could open by fall 2022, said Brian Opitz, BC3’s executive director of operations.
