Local students begin educational journey at Butler County Community College
BUTLER TWP — It has been years since Tanya Hosak has been in a classroom, but on Monday, Aug. 25, she stepped into a psychology class at Butler County Community College on a new journey, the same day as hundreds of other first-timers.
Although it was a little scary to go back to school in her mid-30s, Hosak said she has aspirations to become a substance abuse counselor, so the nerves will be worth it in the end.
“I’m excited but kind of nervous,” Hosak said. “I want to learn more about it and eventually become a counselor for people with substance abuse.”
Monday was the first day of class for BC3’s fall 2025 semester. According to the college, 605 of BC3’s 1,775 students enrolled as of Monday are new to the community college.
Joshua Novak, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at BC3, said the first day of school is also a rush for administrators, several of whom were helping students navigate the campus. He said the Welcome Day events that took place last week let him talk to first-time college students about how to make the most of their college experience.
“My big message there was just to say ‘yes’ to the hard things and get engaged on campus and make the most of it,” Novak said. “We’re just trying to make people feel welcome here and like they belong.
“It’s just about trying to set a good tone for the start of the year for students and our campus community.”
While hundreds of students were starting their first semester of college on Monday, it was not the first time many of them had been on BC3’s campus. As Novak explained, the college has many community programs and early enrollment programs that have gotten younger people onto campus, including high school students, making the environment familiar to many.
“We actually have a cohort of over 60 Butler high school seniors who are taking classes here every morning,” Novak said. “We certainly have students who took classes with us in high school or are familiar with campus (because) they visited campus for something, but we also have students from all over who have never been to campus before.”
Dylan Freehling, a first-year student from Prospect, said on his way to a writing class that he was not very anxious to start college because of his familiarity with BC3 and its campus.
“I’ve been around here for a little bit,” Freehling said. “I have done a couple things with Boy Scouts here.”
Still, the first day of school was still a little exciting.
“The first day, it’s eye-opening; it’s nice; it’s a start to a new future,” Freehling said.
Monday was also the first day for Delaney Staab, who is also familiar with BC3 because she is from Slippery Rock. She is a nursing student at BC3 and said that was the extent of her plans for her time at the school so far.
“I just came to do nursing,” Staab said. “Get the first year done.”
Anjulie Mitchell was also no stranger to BC3, even though Monday was her first day on campus as a student. A first-year student from Saxonburg, Mitchell said she decided to attend BC3 to get a few credits before going to another college to finish a degree.
“I heard it was really easy to transfer credits from here,” Mitchell said. “I am thinking of going to Penn State because I hear it’s really good for animal studies, and I want to do something with animals right now.”
Many other students were returning to BC3 for a subsequent semester, but still felt the excitement of stepping back onto the campus for another year.
Karolina Karner, a second-year student from Butler, said this likely would be her final first day of school on BC3’s campus, but not her final first day as a college student.
“I hope to transfer to Slippery Rock (University),” Karner said. “I’m going to become a history teacher.”
Emily Hillwig, of Chicora, was starting her second year in BC3’s early childhood education transfer program, and said she was looking forward to spending her first full semester at the Dr. Robert L. Paserba Teaching and Learning Lab, which was completed in April.
“I like the middle part that has things that could actually be in a children’s classroom,” Hillwig said.
Taylor Campbell, a second-year student from West Sunbury, was also in BC3’s early childhood education transfer program, and said starting her second year is at least as exciting as starting her first, because she gets to get more in-depth with her education.
“There are so many different opportunities to learn in there,” Campbell said. “We can get a lot more practice hands-on than last year.”
