College Holds Centennial Open House

– Photos by Tom Wilson, writer-editor-PCToday; Abdullah H. Muaddi, student photographer;
Jennifer A. Cline, writer/editor-One College Avenue; Cletus G. Waldman, clinical director of radiography;
Pamela A. Mix, secretary to the ESC executive director and assistant dean of transportation and natural resources technologies;
Cindy Davis Meixel, writer/photo editor; and Jon W. Hart, instructor of building automation technologies/HVAC electrical

Encouraging the social-media sharing of Open House moments, President Davie Jane Gilmour poses for a selfie.

Penn College's threefold emphasis on practical laboratory experience is front-and-center in an Admissions Office presentation.

The atrium of the Breuder Advanced Technology and Health Sciences Center invites respite, refreshment and regrouping during the Open House experience.

Timothy E. Weston (left), associate professor of plastics and polymer engineering technology, and Kirk M. Cantor, professor of plastics and polymer technology, share their expertise with a visiting family.

School of Business & Hospitality majors are outlined by Gerri F. Luke, interim dean, during an overview session.

A meet-the-dean session with Colin W. Williamson, of the School of Transportation & Natural Resources Technologies

Friendly guests take a smile break with a student photographer.

Jenna E. Kline and Gaven D. Crosby, Resident Assistants at The Village at Penn College, strike an amiable pose between tours of on-campus housing at Dauphin Hall.

Resident Assistant Anders T. Felton accompanies a group through Rose Street Commons.

Campus visitors are greeted at check-in by Presidential Student Ambassadors Morgan N. Keyser and Trevor I. Brandt.

Victoria Krueger, a student ambassador stationed in an information tent by "The Rock," points a family in the right direction.

The college's new provisional membership in NCAA Division III generated traffic for Wildcat coaches, who were headquartered in the Bush Campus Center TV lounge.

The Student Involvement Fair offered a variety of options for out-of-classroom learning, including a Guatemalan study-abroad program backed by Penn College faculty members Curt E. Vander Vere, assistant professor of mathematics, and Rob Cooley, assistant professor of anthropology and environmental science.

Minorities Lending Knowledge, the former Multicultural Society, was among the student organizations with a presence in the Bush Campus Center.

Off-campus landlords form a shopping mall of sorts in the Madigan Library atrium.

Kathleen V. McNaul, academic services specialist: transition communications, speaks at a session on transfer students.

The always-impressive Victorian House wears its Sunday best for Open House visitors.

The Alumni Relations Office served a commemorative cake in the Victorian House.

Ambassador Stephanie M. Puckly makes guests feel at home while waiting for a check-in slot to open.

A vintage Apple computer is among the exhibits in a "museum" of outmoded gaming and information technology.

With an earnestness that honors the difficult decision of choosing a college, recruitment director Joseph J. Balduino answers a family's questions.

Guiding guests toward a productive day is Rebecca A. Steer, secretary to the dean of industrial, computing and engineering technologies.

Graphic design major Zachary G. Bird, of South Williamsport, was among the students who thoughtfully fielded visitors' questions in the CC art labs.

Jonathan F. DeRoner, a computer aided product design major from Thurmont, Maryland, gives a potential student a close-up look at his course work in College Avenue Labs.

Admissions representative Caleb J. Swartz discusses diesel and heavy construction equipment majors with a family from Huntingdon.

Carlos Ramos, web designer/interactive media strategist, helps a family map out its day.

Community Assistant Sarah Boyer and Commuter Assistant Todd D. Robatin are the oh-so-pleasant gatekeepers for the Off-Campus Housing Expo in Madigan Library,

In keeping with the "now and then" thread that ran through the Centennial Community Event, the School of Construction & Design Technologies combined today's industry-standard curriculum with a slide show of bygone days.

Families travel past the Victorian House, where Alumni Relations waited to greet alumni.

Outside the Machining Technologies Center, two impressive vehicles – a Jaguar and student-manufactured “mini Baja” car – are conversation starters.

Emergency Medical Services students Crystal E. Van Aken, of Emmaus, and Kierstin M. Slesienski, of Bensalem, stand ready to greet the community with a display of defibrillators from the 1980s through today.

A student ambassador guides a group outside the Bardo Gymnasium.

Books donated by the Smithsonian Institution provide a look at the plumbing industry of the past.

Squash becomes art in Le Jeune Chef, thanks to talent of students in the School of Business & Hospitality’s Artistic Buffet Decoration course.

While students in the Introductory Baking course go about their classwork, a display shows off the handiwork of their predecessors.

Culinary arts technology student James E. Culp, of Northumberland, shows a couple around the hospitality facilities during the Centennial Community Event.

Joseph E. LeBlanc, assistant professor of physics, demonstrates the “magic” of electrical current in the “haunted physics lab.”

Construction management students (from left) Matthew W. Bonenberger, of Lansdale; Charles J. Lutz, of Reading; and Ryan M. Huber, of Valencia, demonstrate the porousness of concrete.

Among the diesel technology graduates returning to share their success stories were John D. Motto (left) and Daniel H. Mohlenhoff, 2011 alumni who joined instructor Justin W. Beishline's presentation. Grads from all of the college's academic schools volunteered their services for the day.

Joseph T. Pecsi, of Pittsgrove, a student in information technology information assurance and security concentration and an employee of Altamira Technologies Corp., shared a crowd-pleasing creation: a robotically controlled Etch-a-Sketch that even rotated to shake the drawn image off the screen.

The clearing of trees along Airport Road allows an unimpeded view of the donated FedEx cargo jet, wrapped in vinyl and reborn as a teaching tool (and as a very visible billboard for the college's aviation center).

With a latter-day "degrees that work" forest technology video as background, a display of logging artifacts reflects the day's historical theme.

In a presentation titled "HVAC Applications: Old Theory and New Appearances," a still-functioning 1930s-era refrigerator is displayed not far from today's cooling equipment.

Hardly a given on a near-November afternoon: sun warm enough to melt students' impressive ice sculptures.

Prospects and their families fill a nursing laboratory.

Nursing faculty members and students show a prospect the high-tech workings of SimMan.

Prospective students and their families receive an informative tour of the Dental Hygiene Clinic.

Radiography students introduce visitors to interesting X-ray images.

Michael P. Covone, associate professor of applied health studies, talks with visitors.

Sandra L. Richmond, director of nursing, leads a session.

Edward A. Henninger, dean of health sciences, provides an overview of the school and its programs.

Students show visitors the ropes of the Surgical Technology Program’s simulated operating room.

Presidential Student Ambassador Kyle D. Bomboy leads a tour westward from the Bush Campus Center.

Standing amid the college's fleet of instructional aircraft are Walter V. Gower (left), an assistant professor of aviation, and a pair of Open House visitors.

Barney A. Kahn (left), instructor of building construction technology, and Thomas J, Mulfinger, associate professor of building construction technology, show how to make molding.

The day's ample sunlight shines through a Centennial collage of photos denoting natural resources-related majors over the past 45 years.

A convenient addition to check-in at the Field House: Open House information projected from the second floor.

Engineering design technology students Allen M. Higley (left), of Dushore, and Ryan K. Fisher, of Bethel, talk with Barry R. Stiger, vice president for institutional advancement, about their PVC-framed vehicles.

River Valley Transit buses – a Main Campus circulator, as well as hourly shuttles to the Schneebeli Earth Science Center and Lumley Aviation Center – await departure outside the Carl Building Technologies Center.

Welding lecturer James C. Tanner explains a Cloos robotic welder on loan to the School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies. Tanner was just one of the many welding faculty on hand to greet Open House guests, scores of whom pre-registered for tours of the lab.

Daniel W. Yoas, associate professor of computer information technology, discusses opportunities and expectations in the IT world.

A frequent volunteer at college events, retired engineering drafting faculty member Chalmer Van Horn again shares his day – and meticulously hand-drawn student projects from his personal collection.

Among Open House V.I.P.s was Dayne A. "Andy" Lash, a 1992 business management graduate, considering re-enrollment in the occupational therapy assistant major. Lash was featured on the cover of the first issue of One College Avenue magazine in Winter 1991-92.

Sean M. Hunter, an automotive restoration technology major from Livingston, New Jersey, shows off the restored 1970 Chevelle Super Sport in College Avenue Labs. The latest collaboration between students and the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum in Hershey, the car recently brought home a first-place junior award.

Chris S. Weaver, instructor of diesel equipment technology, presides over a full-house lab tour.

A display of landscaping equipment through the years

The ESC floral design lab attracts artistic attention.

Erich R. Doebler, laboratory assistant for forest technology, greets a tour group outside the Schneebeli Earth Science sawmill ...

... where students provided live demonstrations of turning logs into lumber.

Making fun use of instructional equipment were students in the renewable energy technologies major, who took photos with the Solmetric Suneye 210 Shade analysis tool in front of the Electrical Technologies Center. The equipment uses a fisheye lens oriented vertically to capture a calibrated digital photo of the entire sky, including the horizon (and any obstructions such as trees), as seen from the perspective of a photovoltaic solar array. While students ordinarily use the tool for calculation of solar access for a specific longitude and latitude, they promoted their major at Open House by taking snapshots of and emailing the photos to prospects in gratitude for their attendance. Clockwise from top are Carolyn R. Strickland, vice president for enrollment management/associate provost; President Gilmour; Jon W. Hart, instructor of building automation technologies/HVAC electrical; and students Nicholas Gaviola, of East Hampton, New York, and Christopher G. Schmid, of Dallas.

The oldest building on campus teems with youthful energy – 100 years young, in fact – as a standing-room-only crowd files out of a Klump Academic Center information session.

Blue skies and autumn glory – down on the ground and up in the mountains – welcomed visitors to campus along with the three Centennial art installations. This one, "Student Bodies," was crafted by welding technology students and faculty.