2020 LHS Graduate & Ellwood City Resident With 4.0 GPA Receives $1,500 Scholarship – Ellwood City.org
(Butler, PA) The academic achievements of a 24-year-old Ellwood City resident and Butler County Community College student with a 4.0 grade-point average have been recognized with a $1,500 scholarship from the Pennsylvania Certified Public Accountant Foundation, Philadelphia.
Sierra Strickler, a BC3 business administration student who intends to become a certified public accountant, is one of 91 recipients nationwide of financial awards from the nonprofit organization associated with the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs.
The foundation states that its mission is to inspire students to pursue careers in accounting and to provide educational, motivational and financial support to those working to attain the CPA credential.
Community college students such as Strickler must have earned at least a 3.0 grade-point average to be eligible for the financial award. Her scholarship brings to seven the number awarded by the foundation to students in or recent graduates of BC3’s business and information technology division in the past two years.
Strickler has also received from the BC3 Education Foundation a $500 Victor L. Petro Memorial Scholarship in 2024-2025 and the $4,025 Florence S. Cooper Scholarship in 2025-2026. Those scholarships required a minimum grade-point average of 3.0 for consideration.
The 2020 Lincoln High School graduate attended a private two-year institution in Pittsburgh with the intention of becoming a restaurant owner and said she left because of its frequent COVID-19 shutdowns.
“I am definitely doing better grade-wise at BC3 and I’m definitely learning a lot more and getting a lot more scholarships than I did at the other college,” Strickler said. “The faculty members are really good at teaching and explaining.”
Strickler was named in the spring to BC3’s president’s list, a recognition for students who achieved a grade-point average of at least 3.75 after completing at least 12 semester hours.
She also accepted membership this fall into Rho Phi, BC3’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international academic honor society for two-year colleges and programs. New members must have a grade-point average of at least 3.5.
Strickler left the private two-year institution in Pittsburgh with $15,000 in student-loan debt and began to work as an operations associate at a national sporting goods store in Butler County.
“I decided after a few gap years that I wanted to go into accounting,” Strickler said. “I was looking to get a debt-free degree that was worth it. I found BC3 through college shopping and saw that it said most of their students graduate debt-free. It was what I needed.”
Strickler enrolled in BC3’s associate degree program in business administration in fall 2024.
“Here, I feel like I am learning so much and not paying anything, really,” Strickler said. “BC3 has saved me so much money. It is just better for me for my future.”
Business administration this fall is the second most popular of BC3’s associate degree transfer programs, trailing only general studies.
The program requires courses such as business statistics, business calculus, college algebra, financial accounting and managerial accounting, and prepares students to transfer to four-year institutions to pursue bachelor’s degrees in fields such as accounting, finance, management or marketing.
“I have enjoyed every accounting class I have taken at BC3 and really loved my accounting teacher,” Strickler said of BC3 faculty member Laura Wiest. “She helped me so much in my classes and gave me so many opportunities, including the opportunity to get the CPA Foundation scholarship. She has been super-supportive. She is also a CPA, so she offers great guidance to me.”
Strickler expects to graduate from BC3 in December debt-free, as did 93 percent of the college’s Class of 2025 in May. She plans to transfer to Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania to pursue a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
BC3’s business and information technology division offers 13 associate degree and 11 certificate or workplace certificate programs. Nine can be completed entirely online. The division’s associate degree programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs, Overland Park, Kan.
PICTURED BELOW: Sierra Strickler, 24, of Ellwood City, a business administration student at Butler County Community College with a 4.0 grade-point average, has been selected to receive a $1,500 scholarship from the Pennsylvania Certified Public Accountant Foundation, Philadelphia. Strickler plans to graduate debt-free from BC3 in December. She is shown Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township.
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