(Cranberry Township, PA) A child who sketched stick figures and birds is now a “truly gifted” first-semester graphic design student at BC3 @ Cranberry, where prospective students can learn about its unique visual communications and other associate degree programs and apply free during an open house Thursday.
“I express myself through art,” said Sunset Abersold, 18, of Saxonburg, who studied graphic design for three years at Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School. “It is the easiest way to express what I am feeling or thinking at the moment.”
Michael Putorti is a faculty member at BC3 @ Cranberry, whose open house will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 14 at 250 Executive Drive, Cranberry Township.
“From the minute I saw her first still life, she showed she has such a great understanding of proportions and of values, meaning how light and dark certain areas are in relation to one another,” Putorti said. “The quality of the work she has given me has been absolutely beautiful. … It blows me away every single time.”
“A great school for visual communications”
Prospective students can learn more about BC3 @ Cranberry’s transfer and career programs, tuition and fees, financial aid, scholarship opportunities and support services such as free tutoring during the open house.
BC3 @ Cranberry will waive its $25 application fee at the open house. Prospective students can RSVP at bc3.edu/open-house
BC3 @ Cranberry is the only of BC3’s six locations to offer career programs in graphic design and in digital audio and video production.
Students in BC3 @ Cranberry’s career programs can develop the skills needed to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation.
“I heard about BC3 @ Cranberry from friends who graduated before me (at Knoch High School in 2024),” Abersold said. “They told me it’s a great school for visual communications.”
Abersold is a student in Putorti’s drawing class, whose objectives include showing an ability to use different methods of perception, gaining proficiency with different mediums, and employing perspective, shading, texture, and line and color in a composition.
“Being in his class and practicing what he has taught us has helped me to improve,” Abersold said.
“We have alumni and current students who have work up on the walls. ... We do that to try to express what our students have done here and to give them part of the ownership of the building as well.”
“Our students want their voice to be out there”
BC3 @ Cranberry’s 65-credit graphic design program includes courses in creative thinking, drawing, applied media art and illustration, electronic art and design I and II, and electronic layout and design I and II.
Its 62-credit digital audio and video production program includes courses in introduction to black-and-white photography, professional digital photography, electronically generated imaging, interactive electronic media and video media.
“Programs at BC3 @ Cranberry are popular because they are unique to all of BC3’s locations,” said Dr. Ryan Kociela, director of BC3 @ Cranberry. “We have had students from North Allegheny, Punxsutawney, Sharon and Ellwood City.”
BC3 @ Cranberry also offers courses in sculpture, introduction to painting, introduction to art and introduction to digital photography, Kociela said.
“Our students,” Kociela said, “want their voice to be out there, want their creativity to be available to others and in a lot of ways, that comes from the arts.”
“There is such an appreciation of art here”
Many people may be inhibited to express themselves, Putorti said.
“Providing to them an outlet, a creative outlet where they can express themselves, and talk to their classmates and their instructor as equals, is absolutely necessary for their development,” Putorti said.
Works created by its students are displayed year-round at BC3 @ Cranberry, can appear in BC3 @ Cranberry’s annual portfolio and art show or published in FACETS, BC3’s literary-art magazine.
“We have alumni and current students who have work up on the walls,” Kociela said. “We get more and more of it every year after our show. We do that to try to express what our students have done here and to give them part of the ownership of the building as well.”
Abersold said she may exhibit her drawings during the portfolio and art show in May.
“There is,” Abersold said, “such an appreciation of art here.”
BC3 @ Cranberry’s credits can be applied toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities.
Visitors to BC3 @ Cranberry’s open house can also meet faculty and staff, tour the facility and learn about the college’s 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
68% in BC3’s Class of 2024 graduated debt-free
BC3’s affordability, and financial aid and scholarships enabled 68 percent of the college’s Class of 2024 to graduate debt-free.
Butler County residents attending BC3 @ Cranberry this fall are paying $197 per credit in tuition and fees for an in-person course.
They would pay at least $439.75 per credit in tuition and fees for an in-person course at a regional public four-year university or $569 at a regional state-related institution’s branch campus in 2024-2025.
Butler County residents attending BC3 @ Cranberry can receive up to $9,994 in federal and state grants, and residents of Pennsylvania counties other than Butler, a maximum of $11,626 in 2024-2025, according to Juli Louttit, the college’s director of financial aid.
The BC3 Education Foundation has awarded 157 named scholarships for the 2024-2025 academic year to BC3 students from 11 western Pennsylvania counties and totaling $230,000, according to Bobbi Jo Cornetti, the foundation’s development coordinator.
