(Butler, PA) Two Butler County Community College students who say the work ethic of their fathers inspires their drive to succeed are among 207 students who will receive $1,000 scholarships that recognize scholastic achievement and leadership potential.
Nineteen-year-old Butler residents Ian Moore and Megan Denny are BC3 business administration students named 2021 Coca-Cola Leaders of Promise Scholars. Each plans a future in finance, and each is an officer in the college’s Rho Phi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.
Phi Theta Kappa is an international academic honor society for two-year colleges and programs based in Jackson, Miss. The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation funds Coca-Cola Leaders of Promise Scholarships for Phi Theta Kappa members.
A panel of judges reviewed more than 900 Coca-Cola Leaders of Promise Scholarship applications whose questions included “What motivates you to succeed?”
His father, Moore answered, “has been my inspiration.”
Her father, Denny typed, “is the ultimate motivator.”
BC3 dean: Recipients “balance a lot of things”
Moore and Denny earned BC3’s president’s list honors in each of their first two semesters. Students selected to the list must have a grade-point average of at least 3.75 in a semester in which they completed at least 12 semester hours or degree requirements.
Each works in a part-time job about 15 hours a week during the academic year, Moore as a finance administrative assistant at an accounting and financial planning firm and Denny as a server in a coffee shop.
And each serves with the college’s Rho Phi chapter, Moore as vice president and Denny as vice president of special events.
“They balance a lot of things, and extraordinarily well,” said Dr. Josh Novak, BC3’s dean of student development and a co-adviser of Rho Phi. “These are students who balance work, who balance being exceptional students in pursuit of their degree, and who do not just engage (with Rho Phi), but have taken an opportunity to step up and be leaders within the campus community.”
To be eligible for membership in Rho Phi, students must have completed at least 12 credit hours toward an associate degree or six credit hours toward a one-year certificate and must have achieved a 3.5 grade-point average.
Moore: Father’s work ethic “pushes me”
Moore’s father, Larry, is director of government relations in the public sector services group at Babst Calland, a law firm in Pittsburgh. Denny’s father, Michael, is manager of engineering design with People’s Gas, Pittsburgh.
Moore is the fourth of five children to Larry and Aimee Moore, and Denny, the youngest of three to Michael and Vicki Denny.
Moore, a 2020 Knoch High School graduate, said he has witnessed his father’s work ethic amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Either outside on the deck or at our kitchen table,” Moore said of his father. “And he doesn’t stop working from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on some nights. He’s just constantly, constantly working, and just seeing that, it just pushes me to say, ‘I’m not tired. I can keep on going because he’s always pushing himself every day.’”
Denny: Father inspires goal to become leader
Like Denny’s mother and sister, Denny’s father earned an associate degree from BC3. Her father then attended night school for six years to earn a bachelor’s degree from Point Park University.
“For him to take the initiative on everything inspires me to want to have a leadership role,” said Denny, a 2020 Butler Area Senior High School graduate. “And whether my family and I see it or not, he works so hard at work. He manages a lot of people. There might be a lot of stress on him. But he never lets it show.
“And when he gets home, he might have to fix one of our cars until it gets dark. He’ll go to sleep and repeat the day. So instead of coming home and sitting on the couch and watching TV, he works even more. And it just inspires me to have a hard-work ethic.”
Moore earned 12 college credits at Knoch through BC3’s College Within the High School program and expects to graduate from BC3 in December. Denny expects to graduate in May. Each plans to graduate debt-free from BC3, then transfer to a senior institution to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
BC3’s Rho Phi chapter had 150 members in the spring semester.
Rho Phi in March was recognized as an ultimate five-star chapter for the fifth consecutive year.
To reach five-star status, a Phi Theta Kappa chapter must, among other requirements, develop an honors in action project that combines academic research, problem-solving and action-oriented services to address real-world challenges in communities.
The chapter was also recognized in March for membership acceptance rates. To be honored with a Phi Theta Kappa Reach Award, chapters must increase membership acceptance rates by at least 15 percent. Rho Phi’s rate in 2020 was 15.4. Rho Phi formed at BC3 in 1968.