News about Collision Repair & Restoration

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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Students in Penn College’s automotive, collision repair and restoration majors were treated to a colorful recap of recent automotive history – and their role in the industry’s next chapter – during a Monday campus visit by an award-winning journalist and lifelong car enthusiast. John M. Clor, who manages a club outreach program for Ford Performance, recounted “55 Years of the Ford Mustang” during a presentation in the Klump Academic Center Auditorium. Clor’s lively lecture took the audience through decades of “the most recognized car in the world,” contrasting its iconic beauty with that of less-popular competitors. “Anyone can build something for a minute,” he said, before sharing a slideshow of ill-advised vehicle designs that failed to similarly grab the public’s extended attention. “When you don’t have a heritage, you need a gimmick.” In addition to celebrating the enduring coolness of the Mustang, as distinguishable in its outline as a Coke bottle, Clor applauded the students for choosing their career paths. “Learning to do something with your hands makes all the difference in the world,” he said. “You’re the key to the future. Dream big and heritage is yours.”

Veteran journalist, author and marketer John M. Clor will share his comprehensive insight into the auto industry with the Penn College community during a presentation at 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 30, in the Klump Academic Center Auditorium. A regular columnist for a number of publications, Clor will discuss the Ford Mustang’s role in the automaker’s production history and how design drives the public’s interest in cars. More on the speaker’s extensive background is available in his official bio: John M. Clor

In search of a traditional fall event to usher in the season? Join Penn College automotive restoration technology students for the Autumn Fest & Car Show at UPMC Susquehanna’s Divine Providence Campus from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29. Students are displaying a Ford Mustang body befitting this year’s celebration of the Mustang Club of North Central Pennsylvania’s 30th anniversary. Admission is $10, with proceeds benefiting UPMC’s Addiction Medicine Services. Among activities at the 1100 Grampian Boulevard event are food, raffles, craft vendors and a kids’ pumpkin patch.

Students in instructor Shaun D. Hack’s Introduction to Non-Structural Collision Repair Applications class got a hands-on visit Thursday from Daniel L. Maloney Jr., national sales manager for Dent Fix Equipment. The industry guest showed freshman collision repair/automobile restoration majors how to use the Aluspot Deluxe DF-900DX aluminum dent-repair station donated last year and a new EZ Nitrogen Plastic Welder DF-EZN1 under consideration for College Avenue Labs.
Photos by alumna Vanessa Mathurin, toolroom attendant for collision repair

The Susquehanna Valley Corvette Club, which supports Pennsylvania College of Technology students through a pair of scholarship funds, recently honored two more beneficiaries of its generosity.

Students Jacob A. Dock, of Middleburg, enrolled in automotive restoration technology, and Chase T. Fritz, an automotive technology major from Athens, each will receive $2,500 during the 2019-20 school year as the latest recipients of club scholarships.

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State Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), the second-highest ranking member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, visited Penn College on Thursday. Cutler, serving his first term as majority leader, was accompanied on the tour – which took in a number of instructional areas of main campus – by Jacob G. Smeltz, his chief of staff, as well as two members of the college’s board of directors: Sen. Gene Yaw, chair, and Rep. Garth Everett. President Davie Jane Gilmour and other members of the college administration (including Michael J. Reed, vice president for academic affairs and provost, and Patrick Marty, chief of staff) welcomed the guests, and various deans and faculty members led Cutler through The Victorian House, welding and metal fabrication, advanced manufacturing, automotive restoration, culinary arts and hospitality, plastics and polymer engineering, and several majors in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences. Cutler started his career in radiography, earning a certificate from Lancaster General School of Radiology. He worked as an X-ray technologist before earning a health care management degree from Lebanon Valley College and working as an administrator in his local hospital’s radiology department. He later earned a law degree, focused on health care law, from Widener Law School and has served in the Legislature since 2007. The day’s itinerary also included lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant and a chance to see the Gold Rush Excavator on a nearby parking lot.

Site selectors for business and industry, who arrived in Williamsport late last week for a four-day assessment of the region’s educational, health care and recreational attributes, visited Penn College on Monday. Led by a contingent of campus leaders, the guests toured plastics, automated manufacturing, welding, collision repair and automotive restoration labs, and enjoyed lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant. Eyewitness News’ Morgan Parrish was among those accompanying the group, and – in a piece that led the evening’s 5:30 newscasts on WBRE/WYOU – interviewed Michael Quint, managing director at Newmark Knight Frank; Jared Grissinger, project manager for the Governor’s Action Team; and Jason Fink, president/CEO of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, for their perspective. Also included in the broadcast was footage of Elizabeth A. Biddle, director of corporate relations; David R. Cotner, dean of industrial, computing and engineering technologies; Shannon M. Munro, vice president for workforce development; and Spencer L. Cotner, of Muncy, a plastics and polymer engineering technology major and research assistant at the college’s Plastics Innovation & Resource Center. The visit, which began at the Little League Baseball World Series over the weekend, concludes with Tuesday stops at UPMC Susquehanna and Lycoming College.

The Susquehanna Valley Corvette Club is steadfast in its support of Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The club, formed in 2003, has established two funds at the college over the years: a Susquehanna Valley Corvette Club Scholarship begun in 2014 and the Susquehanna Valley Corvette Club Foundation Endowed Scholarship initiated in 2018.

To continue its efforts in support of the scholarships at Penn College, the club is conducting a summerlong raffle to benefit those funds. Net proceeds from the raffle – for which the grand prize is the winner’s choice of a 2019 Chevy Silverado, a 2019 Corvette or $35,000 in cash – will go toward those scholarships.

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A partnership with Nationwide Insurance Co. has resulted in the loan of six damaged vehicles to Pennsylvania College of Technology’s collision repair labs.

The seeds of the agreement were planted a year ago, when the college’s Collision Repair Advisory Committee discussed the shortage of late-model cars for students’ hands-on instruction. Committee member Brian A. Moore, a Nationwide claims manager, immediately recognized the need and strategized with colleagues on how to meet it.

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