Dressed in white scrubs, 55 nursing students at Butler County Community College were presented with nursing pins as symbols of the associate degrees in nursing they will soon receive.

The annual nurse pinning ceremony was held Thursday in advance of BC3's commencement ceremony for all graduating students on Wednesday.

BC3 President Nick Neupauer told the nursing class of 2019 and their families and friends who packed the Succop Theater that 97 percent of the class will be entering the workforce where a nurses' median annual salary is $68,500.

He said 90 percent of BC3 nursing students pass the National Council Licensure Examination for licensing nurses.

The success of the students in the Shaffer School of Nursing and Allied Health enables the college to receive a $900,000 annual grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to run the nursing program at the Brockway campus in Jefferson County and led two donors to contribute $1 million each toward the construction of the $18 million Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building, which will house the school of nursing when it is built in the next two to three years, Neupauer said.

“I'm so incredibly proud of our students,” said Patricia Annear, dean of nursing and allied health, who led the ceremonies.

Ken DeFurio, president and CEO of Butler Health System, a member of BC3's board of trustees and the guest speaker, told the class to keep learning while on the job and have a positive attitude.

“Just be a sponge. There is so much to learn,” DeFurio said.

He said the nurses should try to join doctors and nurse practitioners when they make their rounds and to ask questions about tests and procedures ordered for patients.

“Learn, learn, learn, learn until the day you retire. Never stop learning. Nurses are at the core of everything we do,” DeFurio said.

He said he tells all new employees at Butler Memorial Hospital that attitude is their most important characteristic.

“The most important thing to me is attitude. Attitude is a choice we all make. Choose to be the best. Choose to be caring,” DeFurio said.

Two of the graduates were presented with awards for outstanding work.

Marissa Marsh received the clinical nursing award for embracing the role of nurses, and Christopher Hornberger, president of the school nursing club and one of seven male students in the class, received the first ever dean's award for professionalism and leadership.

Butler County Community College's largest graduating class will don caps and gowns for their commencement ceremony at 7 p.m. Wednesday.The Class of 2019 will have 599 graduates, which is larger than all 50 graduating classes that preceded them.BC3 said 527 graduates will receive at least one associate degree, 17 will receive two associate degrees, 72 will receive a certificate, two will receive two certificates and 13 will receive one associate degree and one certificate during the commencement ceremony being held in the Field House on the main campus in Butler Township.This year's class includes 32 student veterans, a 70-year-old grandmother of three who is the class' most senior graduate, a 35-year-old married mother of six, BC3's first two-sport All-American and six high school students who achieved a Workplace Certificate in Entrepreneurship by completing the first Riv-Ell Entrepreneurship Program.The three most recent graduating classes have been the largest of the century. The class of 2017 had 585 graduates.