With their loved ones providing an emotional, 11th-hour nudge toward an exciting and imminent tomorrow – and their new Penn College family sharing the reassuring voice of experience – Fall 2017 students greeted the academic year during traditional Welcome Weekend activities. After checking into their apartments on Saturday (and hitting area stores for those “must-have” items that weren’t on the list), the newest members of the campus community processed into the Rose Street Courtyard to celebrate their official arrival. More activities and acclimation followed, culminating in the start of classes Monday morning.
– Photos by Cindy Davis Meixel, writer/photo editor; Larry D. Kauffman, digital publishing specialist/photographer;
J.J. Boettcher, student photographer; Tom Wilson, writer/editor-PCToday;
and Katie L. Mackey, director of campus and community engagement
Campus View RAs can’t contain their excitement!
Welcoming signs guide families to the first order of business.
Roger E. Keep and parents traveled to Penn College from Livonia, Mich. Keep is a transfer student working on a B.S. in welding and fabrication engineering technology. 
A trio of friendly faces – (from left) President Davie Jane Gilmour; Carolyn R. Strickland, vice president for enrollment management/associate provost; and Kimberly R. Cassel, director of alumni relations – greets students during check-in at College Avenue Labs.
Connections Link Alexis J. Medero, a civil engineering technology student from Levittown, shares a welcoming moment with Poppy (and Carol J. Lugg, assistant dean of construction and design technologies).
The Crise family vehicle, loaded and lettered for the two-hour northward ride from Mount Holly Springs, delivered Zachary A., an information technology services-gaming and simulation student. 
A bird’s-eye view of a U-Hall Crew
Fall 2017 takes “shape” alongside Lancaster Hall. 
Andrew M. Gobbi, a welding technology student from Haymarket, Va., greets Monday morning with Student Activities Director Anthony J. Pace. Gobbi continues his family’s Penn College connection; his brother, Anthony D., earned two degrees at Penn College and was the speaker at his May 2016 commencement.
The husband-and-wife employee duo of Walter J. and Erin S. Shultz (with blue bins) assists a family on a milestone day. 
Brandy traveled all the way from Southampton, N.Y., to bid goodbye to her human: Victor D. Esposito, a pre-emergency medical services student. 
Appropriately attired in a “Penn College Dad” T-shirt, the father of Morgan R. Bloom uses a Dauphin Hall lounge for some last-minute “construction” with two other helpers.
Inspiration incarnate: Ryan J. Lariviere, a Sigma Pi Fraternity brother, volunteers his time for move-in. Following a motorcycle accident and an amputation, he received such good care in the hospital that he enrolled in nursing, encouraging anyone in a similar situation to “not stop living your life.”
Softball player Tiana F. McCormick, volunteering with Athletics, enjoys a laugh with RA Christopher J. Morrin. 
A queue of cars at Dauphin Hall
Dana R. Suter, coordinator of part-time student employment and career programming, takes a photo of Ryan A. Weaver at one of the Wildcat Welcome stations set up across campus on Monday morning. Weaver, of Hummelstown, is enrolled in automotive technology: Mopar CAP emphasis.
Rossell Burgos, an architectural technology student from Hazleton, settles into her room with the help of her mother and younger sisters.
Blue skies and white tents greet guests at Rose Street Commons. 
RA Malachi J. Atkinson (center) makes light work of a Keurig-hot day. 
Checking first-year residents into The Village are RAs Glendalis Guadarrama (with clipboard) and Robert Blau.
On a watershed day, when even the mishaps coincidentally come in school colors, families sidestep a Wildcat Blue detergent spill.
Fresh and friendly! Dining Services employees are ready to serve the move-in masses.
Waiting for an elevator are freshman Amber J. Janelli (center), a health information technology student from Denver, and two Wildcat Athletics helpers: Amelia “Millie” Landry (left), a soccer player from Lodi, Calif., and Madeline P. Wenk, a basketball and soccer player from Biglerville. 
With contagious enthusiasm, Brandon T. Reeves, of Harleysville, heads for his first class Monday morning. The early riser is enrolled in the college’s graphic design major.
The annual poster sale along the Dauphin Hall sidewalk offers new residents hundreds of options for their (temporarily) empty apartment walls.
Jason A. Cafro enjoys move-in day with family and friends. The Stroudsburg freshman is enrolled in automotive technology: Mopar CAP emphasis. 
RA Alyssa E. Sickler gingerly carries a TV for an incoming resident.
Cody M. Hanson (at center in light blue) receives move-in assistance from a team that includes his younger brother (right). The Reading resident is enrolled in automotive restoration technology. 
No Monday-morning jitters for Thomas G. Seaman, a construction management student from Orwigsburg, confident in his chosen path.
The U-Hall Crew rolls along.
No, the kayak isn’t staying! After Robert S. Flannery’s parents dropped him off, they headed to a cabin for a few days of relaxation. The Ashland freshman is enrolled in physician assistant studies.
When it comes to decorating, superheroes never go out of style!
Blue bins and wide grins! RA Joshua M. Worthing lends a hand. 
Put your paws together for this winning team: Zachary W. Eckman, of Plum, and the college’s awesome mascot.
Cheers! Move-in volunteer Christopher J. Dunlap, a gaming and simulation student active in Campus Crusade for Christ, takes a lemonade break from the day’s humidity. 
A long line of happy helpers
Wildcat blue sprinkled cupcakes are a sweet treat at the end of move-in.
It’s not only first-year students who were eager to start a new semester. Lauren S. Herr, of Lititz, a construction management student and student-athlete – not to mention an accomplished role model for women in the building trades – is well on her way to career success.
On-campus and commuter students commingle for the march down College Avenue to Rose Street Commons.
To the applause of Penn College employees, accented with glow-stick bracelets, first-year students make their symbolic entry to campus for convocation.
Among those giving first-year students a hearty welcome Saturday night are Jim R. Dougherty III, assistant director of classroom technology and A/V services …
… and Jacklyn R. Leitzel, counselor.
The president wishes new students a college experience full of academic success, personal fulfillment and campus/community involvement.
In a comfortable outdoor venue that was pelted hours earlier by a midsummer thunderstorm, students are given commemorative pins and introduced to the Penn College Alma Mater.
Strickland provides audience members with a snapshot of the world in 1999, the year many of them were born.
Student Government Association President Caleb E. Cartmell welcomes the organization’s newest members.
Fireworks sparkle in the southern sky …
… an explosive finale to convocation and a preface to the rest of the night’s entertainment.
