News about Collision Repair & Restoration

Student Affairs’ Culture Cafe, held Thursday evening in the Capitol Eatery, allowed the campus community to “Eat, Drink and Travel!” – exploring global learning opportunities while indulging in a Spanish-themed fest. On hand to preview imminent trips, and to whet students’ appetite for enlightening travel in future semesters, were faculty members leading excursions to various destinations: a human services and restorative justice trip to Anchorage, working with YWCA Alaska; immersion into Italy’s sumptuous cuisine; a tour among the iconic automakers of France and Italy; and a firsthand appreciation of the architecture of Spain.

A long-standing partnership between Pennsylvania College of Technology and Axalta Coating Systems continues with another year of additional contributions.

Axalta, a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, commits an annual $7,500 donation of paint and related supplies over a five-year span in an agreement established in 2019.

Axalta has been a generous supporter of students in automotive restoration and collision repair programs for a decade, providing the latest instructional materials, faculty training and curricular advice to help the college meet industry needs. It also sponsors an annual award for the collision repair graduate with the highest GPA.

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The Harrisburg Area Volkswagen Owners Club has again donated funds toward a scholarship for automotive restoration students at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

This year’s $2,000 check marks the fifth time that the organization – formed in 1992 and recognized as one of the oldest continually operating VW clubs on the East Coast – has contributed to the scholarship fund since it was established in 2017. Awards from the Harrisburg Area Volkswagen Owners Club Scholarship fund are meant for full-time students in the automotive restoration major who carry a minimum GPA of 2.5.

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PPG Industries Inc., a Pennsylvania College of Technology partner for more than 35 years, is continuing its support of student instruction in the collision repair and automotive restoration programs at the college.

PPG provides paint annually for those programs in an official paint sponsorship that began in 2003 and continues in the current five-year agreement.

In addition to this material support, students benefit from PPG’s “Partners in Education” program, which offers access to all of the company’s training programs at no charge. This training enables participants to become industry-certified by completing written and hands-on testing administered by PPG. After successfully completing the tests, students receive a two-year PPG certification.

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A vintage vehicle, winningly refurbished for the Antique Automobile Club of America by three years’ worth of Penn College students a while back, caught the eye of a college employee and her husband as they visited the AACA Museum in Hershey last weekend. “While checking out the exhibitions, we came across a beautiful 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle that was restored by our Penn College students,” said Barbara Adzema after touring the automotive showplace with car buff/spouse Robert (who commented that the work “was meticulously done to perfection,” she reported).
Photos by Barbara A. Adzema, residence life assistant

“Because tomorrow begins today,” Penn College campuses welcomed scores of high school students for six more Pre-College Programs in recent days. (A variety of programs focused on more of the college’s academic majors were held in June.) The past week’s schedule included three new summer offerings – Diesel Truck & Heavy Equipment, Fundamentals of Emergency Response, and Thingamajig Fabricators – joining returning favorites Automotive Restoration; Design, Build & Grow Landscape & Horticulture; and Graphic Design Summer Studio. All told, the college hosted 211 high schoolers for two sessions of overnight camps this season and 40 middle schoolers during two weeks of My Tomorrow day camps.

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A new virtual tour allows a look inside the expansive collision repair and automotive restoration training grounds at Penn College. See aspiring technicians in action. Hear from co-department heads Shaun D. Hack and Roy H. Klinger, passionate faculty with real-world experience. And learn how Wildcats are perfecting their craft, one hands-on lesson at a time, thanks to such partners as Nationwide Insurance, Honda and a number of automobile museums. Collision repair is “a rewarding field because you get to experience a lot of different things, a lot of different scenarios,” Hack says. “Never gets boring!” On the other side of the College Avenue Labs instructional space, Klinger notes, restoration “is a unique program that allows a student to be able to take the technologies of today and implement them into a car of significance, which can be preserved for many years to come. You almost can’t put a price on preserving history.” Learn more about the program through the School of Engineering Technologies.

Restored by Pennsylvania College of Technology faculty and students in a cocurricular alliance, then relocated and rededicated Thursday evening, a piece of public art that enshrines a significant West Branch Susquehanna River phenomenon now graces Pine Square Alley.

The stainless steel “Shad Run” sculpture was created by Seattle artist Joseph McDonnell and unveiled by Public ARTWORKS in 2005, intended as a welcoming landmark at Third and Market streets. When the Lycoming County Visitors Bureau and Little League International decided in 2014 to commission “Bases Loaded,” a baseball diamond in Market Square, complete with bronze “players” frozen in midgame – including a stray fielder along the Penn College entranceway – the artwork was put into storage at the River Valley Transit bus garage.

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Automotive aficionados reveled among kindred spirits Saturday at Penn College, where a variety of four-wheeled student organizations hosted an expansive Spring Car Show on the Carl Building Technologies Center parking lot. An estimated 130 entrants were on display during the 10-a.m.-to-4-p.m. event, the cooperative brainchild of the Penn College Motorsports Association, PCT 4×4, Penn College Classic Cruisers, Penn College Diesel Performance Club and the Baja SAE team. Lycoming Engines, a longtime supporter of the college – and employer of its graduates – was the “Club’s Choice Award Sponsor” for the day, providing trophies to the winners.

A multidisciplinary project that began a year ago – fabricating a logo for the Wildcat Den esports room – has borne fruit on the second floor of Penn College’s Madigan Library.

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A 2019 welding technology alumna, who returned to Pennsylvania College of Technology to explore automotive restoration technology, was featured in a “Work Ethic Wednesday” post on the mikeroweWORKS Foundation’s Facebook page earlier this month.

Madison O. Russ recently became the first-ever restoration intern at Kindig-It Design, a custom car fabrication shop in Salt Lake City, and her tenacity in landing the position caught the eye of Rowe – a TV personality and longtime advocate for hands-on skills – and his staff.

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As a child, Shane V. McDonnell became fascinated with cars. Now he’s following his longtime love by training for a career in collision repair technology. Working in hands-on labs with tools and equipment just like the pros use, McDonnell is building real-world experience. And when he’s done, he’ll walk away with structural, suspension, body, electrical and paint skills along with certifications from two industry leaders. “The big thing that drove me to Penn College in this major was the amount of time we spend working in the lab compared to the time we spend in the classroom,” the Dresher resident says in a video added to the college’s YouTube channel. “We take in either students’ or teachers’ cars. We write estimates. We order parts. We map out a repair plan. We do all the paint work, detail work, and it runs like an actual collision repair shop.”

An expanded and enhanced welding lab – at 55,000-plus square feet, believed to be the largest such facility in higher education nationwide – was dedicated on Feb. 6 at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The Welding Expansion Project, funded in part by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, added 35,000 square feet of instructional space to the lab in the college’s Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center, allowing for enrollment of up to 60 more welding students annually – more than 300 in total.

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Career Day brought hundreds of ninth-12th graders to campus on Thursday to explore more than 30 activities offered by employees and students to help high-schoolers learn about the wide variety of career options available to them. The event is coordinated by the College Transitions and First Year Initiatives Office.

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The Coventry Foundation, an organization of passionate Jaguar collectors, has added to its scholarship fund for students in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s internationally recognized automotive restoration technology major.

Headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina, the Coventry Foundation aims to perpetuate the heritage of Jaguar automobiles in North America through an archive of printed material, tools and vintage automobiles; annual scholarships to students; and recognition of accredited restoration programs. Its hope is to assure that a pool of qualified technicians is available to properly service and restore vintage Jaguars far into the future.

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