Butler County Community College’s 53rd annual commencement May 19 will feature a series of outdoor, walk-thru mini-ceremonies for successive groups of graduates. The mini-ceremonies will be held on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township. The first of the approximately 45-minute-long mini-ceremonies begins at 1 p.m. and the last, tentatively at 6:15 p.m. Graduates who register for commencement by April 30 will be notified by email about their designated arrival time.
Appropriate COVID-19 safety precautions will be in place and enforced. Graduates may bring no more than four guests. Graduates and guests should wear a face covering and maintain six feet of physical distance between others. BC3 campus rules and regulations will be in effect.
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 will receive by mail their mortarboard, gown, tassel and name card to bring to the ceremony.
Graduates and guests will be seated separately in an area in front of the Heaton Family Learning Commons, where they can watch video presentations on an outdoor screen before graduates are called to a stage to have their name, degree, program and academic honors announced. Photographs will also be taken of graduates on stage.
Videos will feature a welcome by Ramin Hajave, president of BC3’s Faculty Organization; and greetings from 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.
Videos will also include BC3 presidential scholars and 2021 graduates Olivia Girdwood and Libby Casey giving student addresses, and Dr. Belinda Richardson and Dr. Nick Neupauer presenting the graduates for associate degrees or certificates.
Girdwood will receive an associate degree from BC3 in Nursing, R.N., and Casey, an associate degree in accounting. Both are also members of Rho Phi, BC3’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international academic honor society. Richardson is BC3’s vice president for academic affairs and Neupauer is BC3’s president.
An outdoor reception will include commemorative BC3 gifts at an alumni tent, a photograph booth and refreshments. BC3’s Class of 2021 is expected to include 461 graduates receiving associate degrees, or certificates or workplace certificates that take one year or less to complete.
BC3 held a drive-thru commencement for its Class of 2020 in August.
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