BC3 Announces Drive-Thru Commencement for Class of 2020

(Butler, PA) Graduates in Butler County Community College’s Class of 2020 can celebrate their achievement during a 1.2-mile-long drive-thru commencement that begins at 10 a.m. Aug. 1 on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township.Graduates who attended BC3’s main campus or its additional locations in Armstrong, Butler, Jefferson, Lawrence or Mercer counties and who have registered for commencement should bring their mortarboard, gown, tassel and degree cover to the ceremony, which is expected to last daylong.

Graduates who have registered for the drive-thru commencement will be informed of their designated arrival time by email. Only one vehicle is requested per graduate. It is highly recommended the graduate not be the driver.

Graduates and guests can enter BC3’s College Drive from Decatur Drive. Graduates can later exit their vehicle at a designated station and proceed across a stage to have their name, degree, program and academic honors announced. Photographs and videos will be taken of graduates on the stage. Graduates and guests can also view short commencement videos on their phones and from within their vehicle.

Those videos will include a welcome from Lindsay Lanigan, president, Faculty Organization; a greeting from BC3 alumni Joseph E. Kubit, an attorney and chair of BC3’s board of trustees, and from Kimberly Geyer, a Butler County commissioner and ex-officio member of BC3’s board of trustees; and a keynote speech from John Reddick, a BC3 graduate and architect at Stantec, Butler. Additional videos will feature the conferring of the degree from Dr. Nick Neupauer, BC3 president, and from Dr. Belinda Richardson, BC3 vice president for academic affairs; and addresses from 2020 graduates Teresa Kuo and Laura Gutauskas.

Graduates and guests can also view a board with messages of congratulations and of encouragement from the BC3 community. Drivers can then enter Parking Lot 6, where occupants can leave the vehicle and follow signs to an instant photograph booth and to a selfie area near BC3’s iconic Conestoga wagon.

Appropriate COVID-19 safety precautions will be in place and enforced. Graduates or guests should exit vehicles only at designated stations and maintain six feet of social distance between others. BC3 campus rules and regulations will be in effect.

For those unable to attend, a compilation video of commencement will be available later at www.bc3.edu/2020grad.

BC3’s Class of 2020 includes 563 students receiving associate degrees, or certificates or workplace certificates that take one year or less to complete. BC3 has eclipsed 560 graduates for a fourth consecutive year.