(Ellwood City, PA) A Wampum resident was the youngest graduate in Butler County Community College’s Class of 2026 and joined a record-tying 15 Riverside or Lincoln high school seniors who have earned a resume-building post-secondary credential from the college.

Kennedy Eichler was 17 years and 9 months of age May 13, when BC3’s 58th commencement was held in the Field House on the college’s main campus in Butler Township.

BC3’s Riv-Ell Entrepreneurship program Class of 2026 was its largest since its 15-graduate Class of 2024. The yearlong initiative began in the 2018-2019 academic year, was suspended for two years with regard to COVID-19 and resumed in 2022-2023.

Eichler and Anthony Barberio, Erica Barlow, Alexis Beck, Jacob Biskup, Luke Carusone, Gabrielle Cioffi, Lila Fox, Natalee Gillin, Ava Lucarelli, Calista Poole, Jaxon Rozanski, Cheyenne Smith, Hayden Squicquero and Devin Thompson bring to 63 the number of Riverside and Lincoln seniors to complete the college’s 16-credit workforce certificate in entrepreneurship.

“Programs like Riv-Ell give students opportunities that extend far beyond the traditional classroom,” said John Sovich, principal of Lincoln Junior-Senior High School. “Students are earning college credits, developing professional communication skills and learning real-world problem-solving while still in high school.

“The growth of the program over the past several years reflects how valuable families and students see these experiences becoming. Students want meaningful, hands-on learning opportunities that connect directly to college, careers and entrepreneurship, and this program provides exactly that.”

Their tuition, fees and books have been free as a result of private contributions to the BC3 Education Foundation.

 

“It helps you to receive credits for a variety of courses. The classes have taught me many useful skills that I could take to college and apply to my classes there.”

-- Kennedy Eichler, Lincoln High senior, Riv-Ell Class of 2026

 

 

Riv-Ell “helps to save money in college”

Riv-Ell combines academic coursework with practical experiences and prepares seniors to create a plan to launch or enhance a business.

Seniors take BC3 courses that include financial literacy, introduction to entrepreneurship, marketing, business plan development and psychology, and field trips to visit with and gain insight from successful Ellwood City area business leaders.

“It is a really beneficial program,” said Eichler, of Lincoln. “It helps you to receive credits for a variety of courses. The classes have taught me many useful skills that I could take to college and apply to my classes there. … This program also helps to save money in college.”

The seniors can apply BC3’s credits toward an associate degree or another certificate at the college or transfer their credits to public, private and online four-year colleges and universities.

Riv-Ell is BC3’s only College Within the High School program that results in a post-secondary credential, Jim Frank, BC3’s assistant director of high school programming, told the seniors before their capstone project business-plan presentations April 27 in Lincoln High’s library.

 

“I left these presentations feeling wholeheartedly that the future is bright.”

-- Megan M. Coval, president, Butler County Community College

 

 

“Their creativity, originality and willingness to think outside the box were evident throughout.”

-- Cindie Friello, Lincoln High teacher and Riv-Ell facilitator

 

Business-plan presentations require a concept, mission statement, logo, research of starting costs, identification of competition and of a target market, and identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

“I am proud of the way students developed and presented their business plans,” said Cindie Friello, Lincoln High business and computer teacher and Riv-Ell facilitator. “Their creativity, originality and willingness to think outside the box were evident throughout.”

Poole, an Ellport resident and Lincoln student who works up to 39 hours a week as a lifeguard, pitched a business plan called Aqua Alert.

Smith, a Fombell resident and Riverside student who volunteers as a firefighter, proposed KinchTech FireLockout.

Barlow, an Ellwood City resident and Lincoln student who works eight hours a week as a waitress, discussed Clear Path Technology Help to an audience that included BC3 administrators Megan M. Coval, Dr. Josh Novak, Matt Kovac, Sherry Mack, Mikayla Moretti, Amy Pignatore and Frank.

Coval is BC3’s president; Novak, vice president for student enrollment and academic affairs; Kovac, dean of science, technology, engineering and mathematics; Mack, dean of business and information technology; Moretti, executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation and external relations; and Pignatore, dean of admissions and the college registrar.

“I left these presentations feeling wholeheartedly that the future is bright,” Coval said. “These students have good ideas. They are smart. They are thoughtful. And the Riv-Ell program helps them sharpen all of those skills and gives them confidence, which I think is one of the most important outcomes of the program, that they can believe in themselves, believe in their ability to be successful in higher education and also out in the workplace.”

The Riv-Ell program also includes a course in speech, whose objectives include giving effective oral presentations to groups in a public-address format.

 

BC3’s program “helped me feel more comfortable with speaking in front of others.”

-- Erica Barlow, Lincoln High senior, Riv-Ell Class of 2026

 

 

BC3’s program, Barlow said, “helped me feel more comfortable with speaking in front of others.”

Her business, Clear Path Technology Help, would help senior citizens to “stay connected in today’s modern world” by learning through personal mentoring how to use mobile phones, computers and laptops.

Barlow’s business plan, she said, was inspired by her grandmother, Romona (Cookie) Lemanski, 78, of Ellwood City.

“I don’t even know how many times a month she calls me asking for my help,” Barlow told the audience. “I think this is now a necessity because so many things are online with banking, shopping, apps. New updates come out every six or eight weeks, which for all of us is very confusing. For people who did not grow up with technology, it’s a lot more confusing.

“And not everybody has family to help them.”

Poole said her business plan is to save, rescue and protect all people in the water quickly; and Smith, to save those with a delayed reaction needing emergency response.

Lifeguards, Poole said during her presentation, “have the same fear that you do. Someone will get hurt. Someone might drown.”

Aqua Alert, Poole said, is a bracelet worn by lifeguards that could reduce a reliance on walkie-talkies that might be unavailable if a lone rescuer has already responded to an emergency by diving into a pool.

“The bracelet, when it has entered the water, will alert other lifeguards that an incident has happened,” Poole said, “and for them to help with rescue or resuscitation.”

KinchTech FireLockout, Smith said, “would prioritize automatic fire detection and suppression and require no human interaction.”

The company’s product, Blaze Blackout KS2, is a technology box with sensors contained in a round glass component that check for flame-pattern recognition, smoke and heat.

“Once two or three of the checkpoints are fulfilled, potassium-based aerosol is dispersed … breaks the chain reaction, establishes stable compounds and instantly extinguishes the fire.”

 

 

Plans focus on hunting, health, fashion and athletics

Eichler’s capstone project business plan was called Clinically Cute, which, she said, “is intended to help bring fun and creativity to the medical field which can sometimes be a more serious and stern setting.”

Her subscription-based product would provide items monthly such as stethoscopes, trauma shears, medical tape and highlighters and options for customization.

Barberio proposed PitchFix. His product, for use on golf courses, would be a divot-fixer that would be placed atop the flag on each green.

Beck’s idea, Spark and Create, is a subscription box for children that includes coloring books, sketch pads, crafts, art supplies and STEM activities. “You can always sit your kid in front of a TV,” she told the audience, “But maybe you want to give them something more intellectual to do.”

Jacob Biskup pitched TRAX, which, he said, is a device that attaches to a deer hunter’s boot and “slowly drips scent behind you as you walk. It leaves a natural trail, exactly like a deer would leave, would block the scent of humans and attract deer.”

Carusone’s Workout Wonders would be a three-in-one gym supplement that would include a pre-workout formula “for top-tier performance,” he said, electrolytes for hydration and protein to aid in muscle-building.”

Cioffi’s Petal Drop is a subscription-based floral delivery service whose customers receive fresh flowers to and supplies to create their own bouquets or other arrangements.

Fox’s Breathe Box would benefit patients who experience anxiety before medical appointments. Among its wares would be aromatherapy rollers, weighted blankets, weighted eye masks and headphones.  

Gillin’s Lock-n-Step would be an athletic shoe with soles that can be changed from a tennis show to a turf shoe to a cleat and is intended to “help athletes save money and focus on their game instead of their gear.”

Lucarelli pitched an idea called Fit Check, a digital fashion platform whose users provide a photograph of themselves to utilize an online fitting room and preview outfits before making a purchase.

On Mark, Rozanski said, would enable golfers to mark their golf balls with a special ultra-violet light ink that would be recognizable through the use of an application on a cellphone. “You can scan the area with a camera to find a ball that’s lost in the grass or hidden where you can’t find it.”

Squicquero’s Bizzy Bags would be marketed to restaurants and would be intended to reduce waste by including reusable activity sets and washable coloring tools to be placed at tables of families dining with children.  

Thompson’s idea is called Bounce Lounge, which he said is an inflatable watercraft whose users can zip on a trampoline above its seats.