Penn College’s baking and pastry arts program has added two new industry-standard ovens to its lab: a hearth oven with an integrated loader and a round, rotating-rack oven. Curriculum additions also give students new pathways for their baking careers. The college is implementing a consolidated, three-semester version of its baking and pastry arts associate degree, and in Fall 2020, the college will offer a professional baking certificate. Whether seeking the certificate or a degree, all students will learn the fundamental truth shared by Chef Charles R. Niedermyer, an alumnus and instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts. “Baking is a craft, and you never get away from that,” he reminds in a video added to the college’s YouTube channel. “While we have all these fancy ovens and fancy equipment, there is a person who is making it all happen. And that’s what is exciting about it. That’s what gets me up every day. It’s never boring. It’s never easy. But it’s always fun.”
News about Business & Hospitality
Penn College announces cake competition winners
Pennsylvania College of Technology recently announced the winners of its annual wedding cake competition, with first-place honors awarded to a cake topped with a hand-molded weeping cherry tree.
The decorator responsible for the intricately detailed cake is Aurora Mercedes LeBlanc, a non-degree student from Williamsport.
Girl Scouts ‘spark curiosity’ in daylong campus event
The Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania and the PPL Foundation held a free STEAM Lab at Penn College from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, providing more than 250 girls and young women – from kindergarten through 12th grade – with a hands-on look at Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics pursuits while learning and working with Penn College instructors and students. Attendees worked side-by-side with Penn College faculty/staff and students to earn badges and take part in workshops. Girl Scouts also heard from campus leaders about the future of STEAM and garnered “Spark Curiosity” patches for their participation.
Student/faculty road trip helps girls’ career exploration
Penn College took its celebrated “The Taste of Technology: Sweet and Savory Science” presentation on the road again over the weekend, sharing the scientific side of baking, pastry and culinary arts with youth during the Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s Technology event at Phoenixville Area Middle School, in the southeastern region of the state. GETT is an annual event for girls in grades five to 10 and their parents to learn about career opportunities in a broad scope of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics-related industries. Five students made the trip to provide a tasty, hands-on science lesson: Jace A. Crowl, of Landenberg; Amber Kreitzer, of Port Treverton; and Deirdre L. Satterly, of Shippensburg, who are majoring in baking and pastry arts, and Cynthia R. Setzer, of Port Allegany, and Maren A. Zaczkiewicz, of Williamsport, who earned associate degrees in baking and pastry arts and are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in applied management. They were joined by faculty members Chef Todd M. Keeley, instructor of baking and pastry/culinary arts, and Chef Frank M. Suchwala, associate professor of hospitality management/culinary arts. This is the third year that Suchwala, Keeley and students have taken “A Taste of Technology” to the GETT festival. They’ve also presented the topic multiple times at the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., and for K-12 students taking part in campus events.
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Student selected for Northwestern Mutual development program
Pennsylvania College of Technology business administration student Dianna R. Weaver, who is completing an internship with Northwestern Mutual, has been selected for the company’s Next Level Development program.
Interns selected for the program have written 10 or more life insurance policies during their intern year and plan to continue to work for the company.
Weaver, of Morris, has been interning as a financial representative for Northwestern Mutual for nearly a year, completing the same duties as a full-time financial representative. Working under the guidance of an experienced mentor, she develops clients and helps them to devise a financial plan to meet their goals. As part of the requirements to work as a Northwestern Mutual intern, she secured the Pennsylvania Life Accident and Health license.
Match your interests to your future at Spring Open House
College-minded students, overwhelmed by piles of possibilities as they consider which career path to follow, can sort through the clutter of options during a revealing visit to Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Spring Open House.
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 6, members of the Penn College community will welcome potential students and their families, sharing their unique experiences from an institution that has helped tomorrow makers find their niche for more than a century.
Visiting Chef Dinner to feature Mediterranean-inspired menu
A member of the Barilla Pasta World Championship team will headline Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Visiting Chef Series in April.
Chef Manuel Uribe, sous chef for Terzo Piano, a restaurant inside the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, will spend three days on campus with the restaurant’s lead pastry chef, Rachel Erceg, mentoring students and working alongside them to produce the elegant Visiting Chef Dinner that will culminate their visit.
Pre-College Programs to enrich participants’ summer experience
Building construction has been added to the abounding schedule of pre-college initiatives offered at Pennsylvania College of Technology, hands-on summer activities that mirror the nationally renowned opportunities afforded postsecondary students.
“Our Pre-College Programs offer living and learning experiences in which students have opportunities to explore unique academic interests in a state-of-the-art environment,” said Deborah B. Wescott, manager of conference and guest relations. “It’s a chance to work and make connections with industry leaders, meet and mingle with your peers, and establish a path that could lead to all sorts of future possibilities.”
The signup deadline is May 31 for the institution’s 12 residential programs and its one day camp.
Area lawmaker gets closer look at backyard jewel
State Rep. Clinton D. Owlett, who represents the 68th legislative district (all of Tioga County and parts of Bradford and Potter counties), visited Penn College on Thursday. Accompanied by aide Kim Johns, Owlett began at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center, hearing themes that would echo throughout his day: the college’s status as a “true commonwealth asset,” the primacy of business and industry partnerships, students’ enhanced marketability from the incorporation of core subjects in their chosen majors, and the life-altering and career-building potential of “degrees that work.” After touring diesel, power generation and forestry laboratories, Owlett traveled to main campus for lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant and stops at nursing, collision repair/automotive restoration, and culinary arts and hospitality. An assemblyman since May 2018, the Wellsboro Republican serves on the Agriculture & Rural Affairs, Appropriations, Commerce, Game & Fisheries, and Health committees.
Penn College grad named Food Network ‘Chopped’ Champion
A Pennsylvania College of Technology culinary arts and systems graduate was named a “Chopped” Champion after the popular television show’s judges deemed her dishes the most creative, tasty and well-prepared.
Kristina Wisneski, executive chef of Amis Trattoria in Devon, a Philadelphia Main Line suburb, watched the show for years with her family before making her appearance in an episode titled “Wonton Wonder” that premiered on the Food Network on Feb. 12.
“My dad and I always try to figure out what we would make if we were in the same situation,” said the Whitehall native, who earned a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts and systems from Penn College in 2013.
On the show, chefs compete to prepare a three-course meal using all of the mystery ingredients the show provides them. After each course, one chef’s dish is “chopped” by the judges, eliminating the competitor from the remainder of the contest.
Students benefiting from Barron’s in Education program gift
Courtesy of a gift from a locally based financial advisory firm, students enrolled in business majors at Pennsylvania College of Technology have access to Barron’s Digital subscriptions, as well as a variety of resources provided through an experiential learning initiative offered by the Barron’s in Education Program from Dow Jones.
Hudock Capital Group is providing a two-year gift to Penn College to be licensed for the program. Also benefiting from the program are business faculty at the college.
Culinary grad to appear on new episode of Food Network’s ‘Chopped’
Chef Kristina Wisneski, a 2013 Penn College culinary arts and systems graduate who has been making a name in the Philadelphia culinary scene, is set to appear on the “Wonton Wonder” episode of the Food Network show “Chopped” airing at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12. (Rebroadcasts include 9 p.m. and midnight Thursday, Feb. 21.)
Wisneski is executive chef of Amis Trattoria in Chester County. She began her culinary career under the wing of fellow Penn College graduate and highly regarded Philadelphia-area Chef Andrew Masciangelo, ’97, at Savona in Gulph Mills. (Masciangelo has twice returned to Penn College as part of its Visiting Chef Series.) While at Savona, the Zagat restaurant guide included Wisneski in a roundup of “20 Sous-Chefs to Watch in Philly.”
Graduate chef creates feasts for the eyes on Instagram
Colleen S. Masteller, a 2016 graduate of Penn College’s culinary arts and systems major, made PA Eats’ list of “20 Food-Loving Pennsylvanians to Follow on Instagram.” Masteller – who also maintains the In Whites blog – is a kitchen manager at Sawhorse Café in Williamsport; hosts a series of pop-up, limited-seating dinners; and populates her Instagram account with “poetic” photos of finished dishes, ingredients and life in the kitchen, according to PA Eats. PA Eats is an online publication dedicated to Pennsylvania food and drink news.
Farm Show offers ‘inspiring’ look at college’s varied majors
Throngs of visitors will soon converge on Harrisburg to celebrate the commonwealth’s agricultural prominence, and Pennsylvania College of Technology students and employees will be there to help honor the event’s 2019 theme of “Inspiring Pennsylvania’s Story.”
Papers to be published in Journal of Business Leadership
Two papers presented by Pennsylvania College of Technology employees at the annual conference of the Applied Business and Entrepreneurship Association International were selected “Best Session Paper” and will be invited to be published in the Journal of Business Leadership.