Butler County Community College sends 460 into graduation
BUTLER TWP — A group of 460 students, each with backgrounds as varied as their names, took the next step in their academic lives, marking their graduation from Butler County Community College at its 57th annual commencement ceremony on Wednesday, May 14.
“I'm really happy that I have chosen to start my academic life at BC3,” said Gwendalyn Myers, who plans to transfer to West Virginia University to study biochemistry. “I think it’s really propelled me in the right direction.”
For Josh Stocks, Wednesday’s commencement ceremony marked a return to the campus. He had already finished his classes at BC3 last semester and has started his studies at Penn State-Behrend in Erie. There, Stocks is studying for a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
“I’m a little more nervous than I thought,” Stocks said. “But I am very excited, and it’s really cool to see the achievements from a lot of hard work starting to pay off.”
More importantly for Stocks, it marked his first real experience with a physical commencement ceremony.
“I graduated high school during COVID, so I never really had a traditional graduation,” Stocks said. “I wanted to come out and get the experience. I'm very excited.”
Timothy DeFoor, Pennsylvania’s auditor general, was brought in as this year’s commencement speaker. DeFoor visited BC3’s main campus in April 2024.
Before the ceremony, teachers and faculty — wearing black robes, in contrast with the students’ blue — gathered inside the college library.
“I think we look at the students, and we’re just so proud because we know how dedicated they are, how hard they’re working, and how we have supported them,” said nursing teacher Lorraine Wolfrum. “They’re finally accomplishing their goals and their dreams.”
According to Wolfrum, approximately 80 of the graduating BC3 students are nursing students. One of those is Courtney Adamosky, who was recognized as one of BC3’s 2025 Health Care Students of the Year.
“I can’t believe it’s over,” Adamosky said. “For the past three years, I’ve been going through the nursing program, and I worked really hard to get to this point today, and I can’t believe that I’m finally here.”
Adamosky currently works as a nursing assistant at Concordia Lutheran Ministries.
“I have to pass the NCLEX exam in the summer in order to be officially licensed as (a registered nurse),” Adamosky said. “In the long term future, I hope to be working at a hospital. My dream would be to work at Children’s Hospital someday and take care of kids.”
Regardless of where they next venture off to in their academic endeavors, each of the graduates are expected to leave with their own cherished memories of BC3 — whether they attended school at the main Butler campus, online, or at one of the five associate campuses.
“I really enjoyed whenever we made synthesized dyes in my organic chemistry lab,” Myers said. “I thought that was really fun.”
“The thing that stood out to me the most at orientation, just seeing how big the campus was,” said Tyler Amarando, who is graduating with a degree in business administration and has been accepted into an apprenticeship with the Local 66. “The time has just flown by.”
