BUTLER TWP — Leigh Dillaman couldn't glow more at the mere mention of her graduation at Butler County Community College Tuesday night.

With dual associate degrees under her belt and a pending award of two years free at a state college of her choosing, the president of the college honor society and student speaker at commencement has much to glow about.

She has it all pulled together.

For Dillaman, 61, there's been a life transformation from when she began classes two years ago for which she credits the college and the kindness of others.

“I want to go into human services,” said Dillaman, who is one of seven students in her graduating class to earn double degrees. She majored in psychology and criminology.

“Whatever I do it has to be meaningful. I just want to touch others' lives the way people have touched mine,” she said.

Even under the best of circumstances, enrolling in college as a 58-year-old grandmother can be intimidating. The median age of students enrolled at the college is 20.

But Dillaman had other worries, as circumstances that left her without a home, job or confidence.

“I was a shipwreck,” she said. “And I didn't think I was going to be able to salvage what I was.”

She got encouragement to enroll in college.

She'd always wanted to get a degree, but still, Dillaman said, she did so “with fear and trembling.

“I was sure I could not do it. I cried and said, ‘This is such a silly idea. I can't do this,'” she said. “I thought I was too old. I thought I wasn't smart enough. My self-esteem was completely gone. Thankfully, the people around me believed in me.”

Dillaman won't tell you her collegiate career was without hurdles. She counts computer issues, algebra and chemistry among the biggest.

“Learning was the easy part. Everything else was so huge,” she said. “But at every obstacle, there was someone there to help me accomplish what I needed to get done.”

Friends, family, her church and the college, where 42 percent of students are nontraditional like Dillaman, helped her along the way.

“My experience just grew and grew,” she said “Everything that seemed negative became positive.”

Graduating with a 3.9 GPA, she's president of the college honor society, Phi Theta Kappa. She tutored, did work study and served as a student ambassador at school functions.

She's also one of 42 students statewide selected for the All PA Academic Team Awards for 2011, according to the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges. This honor entitles her to two free years of study at any of the state's 14 colleges.

Although she is still pondering her next step, Slippery Rock University is among the top on her list.

“I still sometimes think I need to pinch myself that I've done so well,” she said.

Commencement was a mixed blessing for Dillaman. She said she's proud to have come so far, yet sad to see it end.

“BC3 is home,” Dillaman said, noting the friends she's made along the way. “I don't want to go. I'll miss it here.”

But, she said, she's prepared for whatever comes next.

“I just have to be me... and a lot of people like me,” Dillaman said. “I smile all the time. I can't help it.”