10 BC3 Students Receive Department Of Defense-Funded Financial Awards

Steven Pander and Ralph Mulneix, both of Portersville, were among ten Butler County Community College students who received $7,500 this fall in programs that emphasize cybersecurity education and that have collectively grown in enrollment by 32 percent since January.

The distribution of financial awards through the use of a U.S. Department of Defense grant brings to at least $32,287 the amount BC3 has provided in 2023 to students in four associate degree career programs and in one associate degree transfer program within its business and information technology division.

BC3 has applied $18,500 toward tuition and expenses for 19 students, $12,037 to fund software access codes for approximately 75 students and $1,750 to cover the cost of five professional certification examinations for four students.

The college has been allocated approximately $400,000 over three years as a partner in a consortium led by Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The consortium is emphasizing cybersecurity education through a nearly $5 million National Defense Education Program grant announced in September 2022.

“More employees who understand”

Pander, of Portersville, has received a financial award from BC3 through the college’s use of a U.S. Department of Defense grant that emphasizes cybersecurity education. He is shown in a systems analysis and design course Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township.

Partner organizations were chosen based on factors that include vested interest in cybersecurity and expertise in managing previously federally funded grants, according to IUP.

“We hear every day about security breaches in data, whether it’s through a corporation or a school or a doctor’s office,” said Sherri Mack, dean of BC3’s business and information technology division. “Companies need more employees who understand how to secure their data.”

There are nearly 5.3 billion internet users worldwide as of October, according to Statista, which has been cited by Forbes.

The global cost of cybercrime is expected to reach as high as $23.84 trillion by 2027, the U.S. Agency for International Development reported in October, citing Statista.

The consortium is charged with increasing students’ completion rates in certification programs that strengthen the defense industrial base workforce, according to the U.S. Department of Defense, and the rates of students transferring to senior institutions.

Seven of the 10 students who received $750 financial awards this fall plan to transfer to a four-year university following their graduation from BC3 and two are undecided.

Students in BC3’s computer information systems career programs in computer support specialist, networking and cybersecurity, programming specialist and website development specialist, and in its computer science transfer program are eligible to apply for the financial awards.

The college will allocate another $7,500 in the spring toward tuition and expenses for students.

“We want them to stay in the programs and finish the programs,” Mack said. “For some students, that can be difficult if you have tuition, and other personal or household expenses to deal with.”

Enrollment has increased from 96 students to 127 in the five programs since Jan. 9, according to Sharla Anke, BC3’s assistant dean of institutional research and planning.

“Much less money pressure”

Students in the five programs, Mack said, “are getting experience through simulations of what hackers go after, how to protect emails and networks, how to set up firewalls and multifactor authentications and other safety mechanisms to protect the data that businesses have collected.”

BC3 students Justin Choltco, Isaak Estes, Victor Garrido, Ethan Huffman, Austin Norris, Steven Pander, Shannon Schultz, Connor Smith, Riley Wach and Zachary Witty were selected this fall to receive $750 awards based on applications they completed at bc3.edu/cybersecurity

Choltco, Estes, Huffman, Smith and Witty are enrolled in BC3’s networking and cybersecurity program; Garrido, Norris and Wach, in computer science; Pander, in programming specialist; and Schultz, in website development specialist.

Choltco lives in Apollo; Estes, in Renfrew; Garrido, Huffman, Norris and Wach, in Butler; Pander, in Portersville; Schultz, in Zelienople; Smith, in Harmony; and Witty, in Valencia.

“As an 18-year-old college student, I am tight on money, and I felt as if a large weight was lifted off my shoulders when I received the financial award,” said Schultz, who intends to transfer to Penn State World Campus or to Robert Morris University upon graduating from BC3.

“It is helping me to work a bit less and focus even more on what I am learning in my classes.”

“It will let me pay for books, class fees and food while I am here,” said Estes, 18, who plans to seek employment in the cybersecurity field upon graduating from BC3.

“I am much better able to afford working part time and taking as many credits as I can,” said Smith, 25, who plans to transfer to Robert Morris University upon graduating from BC3. “I am now under much less money pressure.”

Choltco, Garrido, Norris and Witty were among 13 students selected in the spring to receive financial awards ranging from $600 to $1,000 and totaling $11,000.

BC3 vouchers fund $350 extra-curricular exams

BC3 students who pass the TestOut Network Pro Certification test are eligible to attend the college’s 40-hour, remote-format boot camps.

Students in the grant-funded boot camps will learn about network fundamentals, network operations, network security, network implementation and troubleshooting, according to Les Graves, an associate professor in BC3’s business and information technology division and coordinator of the college’s networking and cybersecurity program.

Students who complete the boot camp will be provided with the grant-funded vouchers to cover the cost of $350 extra-curricular Computing Technology Industry Association certification examinations in network + and in security +, Graves said.

COMPTIA is an American nonprofit trade association that issues professional certifications for the information technology industry, according to its website.

BC3 has provided vouchers in network+ for Michael Hinchberger and Nathan McGowan; and in security+ for Hinchberger, Ralph Mulneix and Charles Zangas.

McGowan of Butler, is enrolled in networking and cybersecurity. Hinchberger, of Butler; Mulneix, of Portersville; and Zangas, of Fenelton, graduated from the program in 2023.