Paying it Forward Young BC3 graduates create, inspire scholarships
Lindsay Walter, a registered nurse, has become the third Butler County Community College graduate under age 24 to create or inspire a scholarship.
Scholarships created by Walter and inspired by Sarah Kasunic will be awarded for the first time Aug. 1, and one established by Tanner McCaw, for the fifth time. They join the more than 130 named scholarships the BC3 Education Foundation will award to students for the 2020-21 academic year.
Walter and Kasunic each received the Janice Phillips Larrick Nursing Scholarship — Kasunic in 2015 and Walter in 2016 — while students in BC3's Nursing, R.N., program.
McCaw was awarded the Matthew Kapp Memorial Scholarship in 2013 while a student in BC3's business administration program.The Sarah Kasunic '16 Scholarship and the Lindsay M. Walter '17 Nursing Scholarship will benefit students in the nursing, R.N., program. The McCaw Family Scholarship helps students in the accounting or business administration programs.McCaw established the McCaw Family Scholarship in 2016, three years after his graduation from BC3 and at age 24. He was the youngest scholarship creator in BC3 history.Kasunic in February 2019 contributed funds to the BC3 Education Foundation to help members of BC3's chapter of an international academic honor society attend a national conference in Florida.
Kasunic, a 2016 BC3 graduate, was killed by a motorist in Knoxville, Tenn., in March 2019.The 23-year-old had discussed with her parents, Tom and Margaret, her plan to establish a scholarship to assist BC3 registered nursing students, a conversation that inspired the 2019 creation of the Sarah Kasunic '16 Scholarship.Kasunic worked as a registered nurse in Knoxville.McCaw is a certified public accountant in Indianapolis.“I know how grateful I was when I received that scholarship,” McCaw said. “And I always told myself that when I was going to be in a position where I could financially give back to BC3 to directly impact students' learning or just their time there, whether it was for books or to pay for one course or all the courses, I was going to do that.”
His McCaw Family Scholarship enabled 2019 recipient Madison Koegler, 21, of Sarver, to avoid seeking a second part-time job as she pursues an associate degree in accounting from BC3.Walter's gift to BC3, inspired one night at her kitchen island 10 weeks ago, will now join budgeting for her mortgage, auto insurance, water, electric, natural gas, internet and phone bills.“It is a sacrifice,” Walter said, “taking my hard-earned money and giving it to somebody else.“If this inspires somebody else to give back and make a difference in the life of somebody else, that's great. Hopefully I can help make a difference in their life the way Janice's scholarship did for me. And I'm happy to do that,” she said.Bill Foley is coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College.
