(Ellwood City, PA) A team representing the Butler Eagle won a third Champions Cup on Aug. 5 in a Butler County Community College Education Foundation golf outing that raises unrestricted funds to support student scholarships, adult literacy, first responders, financial literacy, food security, high school programming, opioid addiction recovery and other BC3 initiatives.
Matt Burdick, Ken Fair, Pat Preston and Rob Voltz, representing the Butler Eagle, shot a 17-under 53 on the par-70 course at Olde Stonewall Golf Club near Ellwood City to top 29 other teams in the scramble-format outing.
Fair, Preston and Voltz were golfers on Butler Eagle foursomes that won the BC3 Education Foundation Champions Cup in 2019 and in 2020. They were joined in 2019 and in 2020 by Ron Vodenichar.
Dave Bestwick, Steven Green, Jordan Grady and Larry Sommers, representing C.W. Howard Insurance and the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, finished second in the 2022 outing with a 13-under 57.
John Anderson, representing Dillon McCandless King Coulter and Graham, won closest to the pin on No. 5 at 30½ inches; Joe Hoffman, Amcom Office Systems, on No. 7 at 6 feet, 9 inches; Mike Franko, Butler Health System, on No. 14 at 4 feet, 8 inches; and Josh Miller, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, on No. 15 at 5 feet, 3 inches.
Sam Rotellini, representing the Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania Foundation, won the longest drive on No. 10 and Adam Hartwig, Alliance Nonprofit Resources, the longest putt on No. 18.
“The community believes in BC3”
The golf outing raised at least $96,000 for the fourth consecutive year, said Megan Coval, executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation and external relations.
“It shows that the community really has a strong understanding of the value that BC3 provides to our immediate and surrounding areas,” Coval said. “It also shows that the community believes in BC3. They believe that we are doing good work, that we are making a difference, that we are changing lives.”
Proceeds from the 120 golfers and 37 sponsors in 2022 brought to nearly $1.3 million the amount raised from the outing since 1996.
Supporting adult literacy, first responders, financial literacy, food security, high school programming and opioid addiction recovery are among BC3 initiatives that “definitely help to define our role as the community’s college,” said Dr. Nick Neupauer, president of BC3.
“Even though they are important, they don’t necessarily have the operating dollars attached. In order for us to move forward with these very important initiatives, we need to have funding. And if we are not getting the funding in a normal way a golf outing like this, as well as the money the foundation raises, helps us to fulfill our role as the community’s college.”
“It shows that the community really has a strong understanding of the value that BC3 provides to our immediate and surrounding areas. They believe that we are doing good work, that we are making a difference, that we are changing lives.”
“BC3 is there”
Farmers National Bank of Emlenton served as the golf outing’s title sponsor for the 12th year in a row.
“Everything that BC3 does for the community is just so important,” said Kyle Hilfiger, manager of Farmers National Bank of Emlenton’s Bon Aire branch. “The more active I get in the community and the more organizations that I get involved with, BC3 is there.”
BC3, said Grady, executive director of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, “has strengthened its workforce development initiatives, continuing education and diversified.
“They have really set themselves up nicely for the future of higher ed. And the foundation is important because unrestricted funds support many community initiatives that are aligned with the college’s mission.”
BC3 helps 25 adults earn diplomas
The BC3 Education Foundation in 2022-2023 has awarded to BC3 students a record $255,000 in scholarships and will fund the tuition for 25 presidential scholars, said Lynn Ismail, the foundation’s assistant director and its financial manager.
The foundation in 2021-2022 funded 57 General Education Development subject tests in language arts, which includes reading and writing; and in mathematics, science, and in social studies for students seeking high school equivalency diplomas as part of BC3’s 36-year-old adult literacy program, said Barb Gade, grant director of BC3’s adult literacy program.
Twenty-five Butler County residents enrolled in BC3’s adult literacy program earned high school equivalency diplomas in 2021-2022, Gade said.
“Everything that BC3 does for the community is just so important."
“It’s the community’s college”
The BC3 Education Foundation in 2021 funded 36 BC3 public safety training classes for 137 volunteer firefighters from 22 Butler County fire companies, said Bobbi Jo Cornetti, the foundation’s development coordinator.
The foundation also reimbursed tuition for five Butler County volunteer firefighters seeking emergency medical services or emergency medical technician certifications, Cornetti said.
“It’s the community’s college,” said Robi Lombardo, appointed as a BC3 trustee in November 2020. “And with the unrestricted funding, it allows us to be more involved in the community, creating programs that help the community, being a good neighbor as the community’s college, and not just for the students who are enrolled, but for the entire encompassing community.”
Like Lombardo, Mike Buckman, vice president for business and finance at Grove City College, participated in the golf outing for the first time Aug. 5.
“We partner strongly with BC3 through our nursing program,” Buckman said of an agreement announced in 2019 in which students from the Mercer County private institution receive clinical and technical training through BC3’s Nursing, R.N., program.
“The technical things are already set up at BC3. It makes a lot of sense for us to leverage what is there instead of trying to re-create it ourselves.”
“The technical things are already set up at BC3. It makes a lot of sense for us to leverage what is there instead of trying to re-create it ourselves.”
Foundation helps pupils, Pioneer Pantry
The BC3 Education Foundation aids the college’s Stock Market Game, which teaches economic concepts and financial literacy to pupils in grades 4 to 12.
More than 1,500 students on 442 teams from counties that include Armstrong, Butler, Jefferson, Lawrence and Mercer participated in BC3’s Stock Market Games in 2021-2022, said David Huseman, director of BC3’s Center for Economic Education.
The BC3 Education Foundation supports the college’s 3-year-old Pioneer Pantry. BC3 community members registered with the Alliance for Nonprofit Resources in 2021 received from BC3’s Pioneer Pantry food to serve 499 individuals, said Mikayla Moretti, the foundation’s director of special events and a member of the college’s food security team.
BC3’s Pioneer Pantry also provides separate food to BC3 students who are not registered with the Alliance for Nonprofit Resources, including those who do not live in Butler County, Moretti said
Seats hit record in high school program
The BC3 Education Foundation assists BC3’s college programming, which includes BC3’s College Within the High School Program, in which students can earn transferrable college credits.
A record 654 seats were filled by sophomores, juniors and seniors from Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Clearfield, Jefferson, Lawrence and Mercer counties in fall 2021, said Erin Cioffi, BC3’s assistant director of high school programming.
The foundation helps BC3’s 4-year-old Hope is Dope opioid addiction recovery program, which drew 86 participants in 2021-2022, said Ken Clowes, BC3’s community initiatives center assistant. Related Hope Nights attracted 126 in nine recent events, Clowes said.
The 4-year-old BC3 Champions Cup is a 27-inch-high trophy mirroring the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup. Kelly and John Giles, owners of Butler Business Systems, Butler, donated the Champions Cup to the BC3 Education Foundation in 2019. Kelly Giles is one of 18 directors or ex-officio members on the BC3 Education Foundation board.
The foursome of Ron Germani, Chad Tate, John Birckbichler and Scott Schaefer, representing NexTier Bank, in 2021 finished in first place in the BC3 Education Foundation golf outing with a 17-under.
The presidential scholars program is in its sixth 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 GPA at BC3.
