BUTLER TWP — Butler County Community College has received $30,000 from the Zelienople Volunteer Fire Department to set up three permanent scholarships in memory of three young volunteer firefighters who died in January.

The three firefighters, Samuel Bucci, Trevor Barkley and Elijah Lunsford, died when their vehicle went off an icy road and plunged into a sportsmen's club lake, just outside of Zelienople.

The money was presented Oct. 16 to the college's education foundation by fire department representatives Drew Mathew and his son, Spencer, who is a BC3 student.

The funds donated by the fire department and the community will establish three individual scholarships: the Samuel Bucci Memorial Scholarship, the Trevor Barkley Memorial Scholarship and the Elijah Lunsford Memorial Scholarship. These scholarships will be awarded for the fall 2011 semester.

Donald Tylinski, superintendent at Seneca Valley School District and member of the BC3 board of trustees, recently received the 2010 Instructional Leadership Award from the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators and was given $1,000 from Lincoln Investment Planning, Inc. to donate to the scholarship fund of his choice. Tylinski chose to divide the $1,000 among these newly established scholarships.

In February, Ray Steffler, chairman of the BC3 board of trustees, initiated a call for support to fund a scholarship in honor of Bucci, Barkley and Lunsford. The Seneca Valley High School Memorial Scholarship was established and awarded to three Seneca Valley graduates for the fall 2010 semester.

Also this year, the Zelienople fire department initiated a similar call for support, pledging to match funds raised by the local community. Bucci and Barkley were members of the fire department; Lunsford was planning to join the department.

To contribute to an established scholarship or to establish a new scholarship at BC3, contact Michelle Jamieson, associate director of the BC3 Education Foundation, at 724-287-8711, Ext. 8235.