BC3 receives another $1M gift
BUTLER TWP — Butler County Community College on Friday announced a $1 million gift from a former student that will go to the school’s registered nursing program.
The commitment from Janice Phillips Larrick, who studied at BC3 from 1967 to 1968, was pledged to the school’s Education Foundation on Friday.
It is the second gift from Larrick this year. In March, she gave $50,000 to the school’s registered nursing program — a highly competitive program that accepts only 70 applicants each year from a pool of more than 200 prospective students.
BC3 officials, including Ruth Purcell, executive director of the foundation, and BC3 President Nick Neupauer called the gift a game-changer not only for the college, but for the institutions that hire registered nurses from its program.
“The impact will be felt for years, not only on our main campus but in local hospitals, doctors’ offices and in long-term care facilities,” Neupauer said.
Larrick’s gift to BC3 matches the largest gifts in the college’s 52-year history. Those million-dollar gifts — one from Robert R. Heaton in July 2014 to help fund the school’s Heaton Family Learning Commons; and another from John L. Wise III and family to help fund the Amy Wise Children’s Creative Learning Center — have all come within the past 38 months.
Larrick, through a college spokesman, said her gift to BC3 comes because she holds the school in such high regard.
“I think (BC3) is a wonderful school,” she said. “I attended there for a short time when I was going to get my nursing degree. And I had some of the best teaching I have ever had. They seemed to be truly dedicated.”
Her gift in March was used by the college to create a realistic hospital room within a simulation lab at BC3’s Business & Health Professions building. The setup allows nursing students to participate in simulated life-threatening scenarios using a computerized patient.
The college said Friday that officials had not yet determined how Larrick’s $1 million gift will be used.
