(Brockway, PA) A Punxsutawney teen has completed the first steps at BC3 @ Brockway along a career path that could lead to her using art therapy to allow reticent young clients to express their emotions.
Skylar Brooks, 19, earned the associate degree in psychology from Butler County Community College’s additional location in Brockway that, she said, will help to prepare her to one day become a licensed therapist in adolescent counseling.
“It’s really hard for some people to talk about things that have happened,” Brooks said of her future clients. “Some people like to draw or color to express how they are feeling without necessarily telling you what might be going on. If I can help them, it will just feel like I am being the best of me.
“I just want to be the best person I can be. Helping other people is something that can get me there.”
Brooks graduated magna cum laude May 19 in the college’s Class of 2021. The honor is for those with a grade-point average of 3.5 to 3.74.
She had also been named to the president’s list at the college at least three times. BC3’s president’s list is for those with a grade-point average of 3.75 or higher during a semester in which they attained at least 12 credits.
BC3 @ Brockway educators “there to help you”
Psychology is among five transfer programs offered at BC3 @ Brockway, along with business administration, early childhood education (Pre K-4), general studies and social work.
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.
BC3 @ Brockway’s credits transfer to public, private and online four-year colleges and universities.
Brooks, a 2019 graduate of Punxsutawney Area High School, plans to transfer this fall to Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she intends to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She hopes to then earn a master’s degree in psychology.
“Drawing with my clients,” she said, “would be my end goal.”
She was among the 70 percent of graduates in the college’s Class of 2021 who graduated debt-free.
BC3 @ Brockway’s affordability and its faculty were impressive, Brooks said.
“The professors are very understanding and they are very helpful,” Brooks said. “If you stopped them after class, and said there was something you didn’t quite understand, they would stay there and explain it to you. It definitely helped getting through school, knowing that they were there to help you.”
The college expected 461 graduates in its Class of 2021, including residents of Clarion, Clearfield, Elk and Jefferson counties. BC3 expected to award 436 associate degrees and 46 certificates or workplace certificates, according to Becky Smith, the college’s associate director of records and registration.
BC3 @ Brockway also offers career programs in business management, office administration-executive and in Nursing, R.N. Students in BC3 @ Brockway’s career programs can develop the skills needed to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation.
