(Butler, PA) A Butler Senior High School student approached a backlit puddle, lay prostrate atop the cobblestone path that formed its banks and pressed the shutter-release button.

“I really enjoyed how the light reflected off the water,” said Anna Wright, of Fenelton.

She’d placed second in the 2023 Pennsylvania Resource Council’s Gene Capaldi Lens on Litter Photo Contest. And third in 2024.

Her image of a butterfly won honorable mention at Butler High’s Fine Arts and Beyond Showcase in 2025.

After graduating from Butler High in 2025, Wright enrolled at Butler County Community College, where today she is a student in an introduction to digital photography course instructed at BC3 @ Cranberry in Cranberry Township by Macey Wright, a professional photographer.

“From the first time I meet with students and look at their work,” said Macey Wright, who is not related to Anna, “I can tell right away whether or not they have the eye for photography.”

Anna Wright’s photograph taken at the Evans City Pumpkinfest made the Experience Butler County Pennsylvania 2026 Destination Guide.

“Anna,” Macey Wright said, “has the eye.”

 

 

"A photograph has a unique ability to capture that feeling in ways that words cannot.”

-- Anna Wright, BC3 student

 

In addition to lying prostrate to capture images, Wright scales fences and climbs boulders.

“Whatever it is,” she said. “Whenever I am out in nature and I want to get a specific angle or a specific lighting for a photo, I’ll just climb.”

Her interest began when taking her first photography/graphic design course as a freshman at Butler High, where she realized she loved a photograph’s ability “to communicate a message without any words,” she said.

“It’s important because sometimes I think that maybe there wouldn't be words to correctly capture an event or an emotion or something that happened. A photograph has a unique ability to capture that feeling in ways that words cannot.”

 

4.0 student joins international academic honor society

Wright graduated from Butler High in spring 2025 and at BC3 is an early childhood education (Pre K-4) student who wants to become an art teacher who concentrates on photography and graphic design.

“That would be like my dream job,” she said. “I would really love that.”

She has a 4.0 grade-point average through two semesters at BC3, and became a member of BC3’s Rho Phi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international academic honor society for two-year colleges and programs.

 

Honor society selects students’ works for anthology

Phi Theta Kappa’s annual anthology Nota Bene – Latin for “note well” – has recognized outstanding writing and artistry since its debut in 1994.

“Nota Bene began as celebration of voice and vision,” said Dr. Susan Edwards, senior director of honors programs for Phi Theta Kappa, Jackson, Miss. “It invites you to pay close attention.”

The most recent BC3 student whose work was selected for the anthology was Rhiannon Martin, whose “Eliot Said April is the Cruelest Month…” literary submission was published in 2015.

“It is a very competitive process,” said Morgan Rizzardi, BC3’s dean of students and an adviser of the college’s Rho Phi chapter.

 

“I like taking photos that definitely require a little bit more thought, but I think they definitely pay off in the end ...”

-- Anna Wright, BC3 student

 

 

It had just rained in an outdoor area of the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden in Pittsburgh in December 2024 when Wright noticed a 12-inch-wide by 18-inch-long puddle forming near a Christmas tree.

“I like to be at the level of my subject when I take photos,” Wright said. “So I just laid on the path and put my camera on the ground. I was at the same level with the image.”

She pressed the shutter-release button repeatedly.

“I like taking photos that definitely require a little bit more thought,” Wright said, “but I think they definitely pay off in the end because they're just unique and different to look at.”

Her “Reflections of Light” paid off.

 

“It is a true honor for her to be chosen among so many of her peers across the United States and beyond. "

-- Morgan Rizzardi, BC3 dean of students, Rho Phi co-adviser.

 

Students such as Wright who are Phi Theta Kappa members submitted 3,237 literary and visual arts works for consideration in the 2027 edition of Nota Bene, “making the selection process both a privilege,” Edwards said, “and a profound challenge.”

More than two dozen judges nationwide made first- and second-round decisions, Edwards said, and a six-member editorial board the final selections of 25 literary and 26 visual arts works.

That 1.57 percent of students’ submissions were chosen, Edwards said, “is a testament to the rigorous standards and immense pride associated with this anthology.”

Wright’s work was chosen.

She learned Oct. 23 that her photograph had been selected for publication in a 2027 edition of Nota Bene that will also feature essays, short stories, a script, paintings and drawings.

“I was excited,” she said, “and honestly surprised. I know that college students enter all types of writing and all kinds of art.”

The 2027 edition of Nota Bene will be published online in late November or early December, Edwards said.

“The legacy of creative excellence burns as bright as ever,” Edwards said.

Wright “is very talented,” Rizzardi said. “She is someone who is using both her left and right brain. She’s excelling in the classroom and applying her creativity in her personal endeavors.

“It is a true honor for her to be chosen among so many of her peers across the United States and beyond. I think you can see in that photo that she has the eye and spirit that will be put to good use in her future as a teacher.”