Woman, 46, earns certificate at BC3
BUTLER TWP — Mary Greene never thought she would be a college graduate, but as of Wednesday night, that's exactly who she is.
Mary, 46, graduated from the Butler County Community College with a certificate in the medical coding and billing specialist program, a program that typically takes a year and a half.
Of course, Mary would never have returned to school without her son, Topher Greene, a fellow BC3 student. Topher started taking classes a couple years ago at the Lawrence Crossing campus, but he could not drive himself to class. Mary had to take a book and sit in the back of the class, where she met Susan Davis, the student services specialist at the Lawrence Crossing campus at the time.
Davis encouraged Mary to return to school, but Mary was not so sure.
“I'm too old, there's no money, I'm not smart enough to go to college,” Mary said, listing all of the reasons she could not go back to school.
“Pick the reason why ... and (Davis) said, 'Well, come to my office, and let me show you the reasons why you can.'
“And next thing you know, I've got a schedule and I'm enrolled in college.”
That year, for Christmas, Topher bought his mother a laptop computer to show how much he believed in her before starting her college career.
During the interview for this report, Topher let slip a fact his mother had not previously known: the computer repair shop where he worked at the time, A-1 PC in Zelienople, let him finance the computer by keeping a portion of his paycheck every two weeks for a few months, he said.
Mary had previously worked as a certified nursing assistant for about eight years, she said. But that job could be too emotionally draining, she said.
“I can't work in the field so much, person to person,” Mary said. “When I worked in the nursing home and patients would die, I would cry. Because that became my grandma or grandpa. I can't lose any more people, it hurts too much ... I get too attached.”
As a medical coding and billing specialist, Mary knows all of the technical medical terms and translates a doctor's orders, including the services provided by a medical company, into a coding language that the insurance company can bill for.
For her, it's a great fit: being in the medical field without facing the emotional hardships that can accompany it.
While being a student, Mary worked at Mussig Florist in Zelienople, tutored students in the medical coding program at BC3, was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and was named to a Who's Who Among American College and Universities list.
Even though Mary has completed her program, she's not ready to leave and might be considering a medical assistant associate degree offered at BC3, she said.
“I don't want to leave,” she said. “I don't want to be done at BC3. I've had way too much fun here. I've had way too many people here who are supportive and uplifting.”
Topher, 21, is attending BC3 to get his associate degree in computer information systems, computer forensics and security, and he is scheduled to graduate in the spring of 2017.
