(Butler, PA) A 36-year-old who works 40-plus hours between part-time jobs and runs 25 miles each week — and who volunteered this spring with the DuBois Area High School track and field teams — is also a Butler County Community College student and recipient of a $1,000 scholarship recognizing her academic achievements.
More than a decade removed from her last college class elsewhere, Rachel Hicks became one of 63 higher education students statewide to be awarded in 2026 by the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Certified Public Accountant Foundation, which is associated with the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs.
The DuBois resident is pursuing an associate degree in accounting through BC3’s 62-credit virtual program. She achieved president’s list honors in her first semester — fall 2025 — after earning a grade-point average of at least 3.75.
Community college students such as Hicks must have achieved a grade-point average of at least a 3.0 to be eligible for the foundation’s financial awards.
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.
Hicks graduated from DuBois High in 2008 and from Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Academy of Culinary Arts program in 2013.
“I had so much going on. It was easier to work, and to get the schoolwork done when it fit my schedule as opposed to trying to fit work around school. The virtual just made so much more sense for me.”
-- Rachel Hicks, BC3 virtual program student
She has worked as a baker, pastry cook and waitress in Wisconsin, Virginia and Central Pennsylvania, and last fall acted on her love of “working with numbers to solve problems” by first taking in-person courses at BC3 @ Brockway in Brockway “since I hadn’t been in school for years and I thought it would be a good idea.
“BC3 @ Brockway had a ton of good reviews, it was within driving distance and I liked that with smaller classes you weren’t just a number.”
Hicks in January entered BC3’s virtual program to accommodate her longtime waitressing job and new tax-preparation position, training to run a half-marathon and volunteering to teach shotput, discus and other throwing skills to track and field athletes at her high school alma mater.
“I had so much going on,” Hicks said. “It was easier to work, and to get the schoolwork done when it fit my schedule as opposed to trying to fit work around school. The virtual just made so much more sense for me.”
Like 82 percent of graduates in BC3’s Class of 2026, Hicks expects to graduate debt-free from the college in May, then transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
“My goal,” she said, “is to continue to learn and build a successful career in accounting by helping businesses and individuals to make informed financial decisions.”
Accounting is one of nine associate degree, certificate or workplace certificate programs offered virtually by BC3’s business and information technology division.
Her scholarship brings to 12 the number awarded by the foundation to students in or recent graduates of BC3’s business and information technology division in the past three years.
The division’s associate degree programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs, Overland Park, Kan.