The observance of Constitution Week (Sept. 17-23), as well as Tuesday’s National Voter Registration Day, offers the Penn College community a reminder of an informed citizenry’s role in protecting and defending America’s foundational framework. An information table has been set up through Wednesday evening in the Bush Campus Center lobby, stocked with pocket editions of the U.S. Constitution, voter swag and registration applications. Similar tables have been provided throughout the past week in various campus locations, with the cooperation of the League of Women Voters, to mark the Sept. 17, 1787, signing of America’s fundamental document. Watch PCToday for photos from Tuesday’s related activity: “Hot Dog, You’re Voting!” held from 5 to 6 p.m. on the lawn of the Thompson Professional Development Center. The event provided students the opportunity to connect with faculty, staff, campus support services and, of course, dogs! There was information about voting, friendly (masked) faces and treats for all.
Student Engagement provided all the materials with which to make a dog’s day.The second floor of the Bush Campus Center, equipped with the necessary technology for group instruction, also provides ample room to responsibly spread out.Handcrafted with love, and destined for a doggie donation
Seventeen service-driven Penn College students, many of them representing campus organizations, took part in the Office of Student Engagement’s recent “(community) Service Saturday” in Penn’s Inn. “We made dog toys from T-shirts and dog-friendly tennis balls using a ‘recipe’ packet I compiled and watching YouTube video tutorials,” said Shannon L. Skaluba, student organization and information center specialist, who facilitated the Sept. 12 activity (and provided the photos above). “Many learned how to tie square knots during the event, an essential skill in making homemade dog toys. We had a great time!” The box of toys fashioned by the properly masked and socially distanced group will be donated to the Lycoming County SPCA. “(community) Service Saturday” events, held the second Saturday of the month, provide Penn College students with opportunities to volunteer within the Greater Williamsport area. The next will be held from 9-11 a.m. Oct. 10, when participants will clean up off-campus neighborhoods and Ways Garden. All appropriate supplies will be provided; the group will meet in front of the ACC for 9 a.m. Those interested should sign up in advance by submitting the “(community) Service Saturday” registration form on the Student Engagement portal page. Questions? Email the office for answers!
Penn College is participating in Welcoming Week (Sept. 12-20), a nationally recognized movement that promotes environments that are inclusive and welcoming to all – no matter where they’re from. This year’s theme is “Creating Home Together,” embodied in a Wednesday afternoon cupcake-decorating event on the Bush Campus Center patio. Students also had the opportunity to post their responses to the question, “What makes Penn College home?” While the pandemic prevented some from joining the celebration of their campus home, the college is proud to have 11 students from six countries (Grenada, India, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Vietnam).
A special virtual event Thursday afternoon honored the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s support of expanded welding facilities at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
A $2 million public works grant from the EDA was the acknowledged catalyst for the additional instructional space in the Lycoming Metal Trades Center – “an incredible facility that will truly transform tomorrow,” as characterized by Bradley M. Webb, dean of engineering technologies – that was dedicated in February.
An inspirational duo of outdoor Student Engagement events this week reinforced a message to even the most pandemic-weary Wildcats: “Explore your campus, interact with your community and embrace one another.” Tuesday afternoon’s annual Fall Fusion, held near the Field House, provided a one-stop introduction to manifold involvement opportunities, while Wednesday’s Multicultural Lawn Party (rescheduled from Sept. 3 due to weather) celebrated Penn College’s diversity.
As the season slowly turns to autumn (with only occasional showers to alter the schedule), largely pleasant weather has allowed a variety of outdoor activities on Penn College’s main campus. Among recent happenings were the Office of Student Engagement’s “Peace, Love and Wildcats” music festival (Sunday in the Rose Street Commons Courtyard) and Counseling Services’ annual “Hot Dog, You’re Here!” ice-breaker on the PDC lawn on Monday.
Pennsylvania College of Technology students and employees are invited to The Gallery at Penn College to view “Victory for a Dime: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War.”
The free exhibit can be viewed through Oct. 2 on Mondays 2 to 7 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 to 7 p.m.; Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Fridays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the gallery, located on the third floor of Madigan Library.
The expansive lawn allows for therapeutic sprawl.Keeping their focus through food, goats pile on at snack time.Sporting a stylish bandanna, a guest works the room.Making the leap …… and sticking the landing!
Take a form of exercise known for offering relief from stress, add animals who love to interact with humans, and top it all off with the sighs and smiles that flow when tiny hooves maintain their balance through inadvertent massage. Yup, it’s the campus return of Goat Yoga! Participants in Wednesday’s three sessions kept their distance from one another, but still managed some close encounters of the “herd” kind in the Student Engagement-sponsored activity. For the second year, Buttinhead Farms brought its four-legged funfest from Hunlock Creek to the PDC lawn as part of Penn College’s traditional “PC3” start to the semester. Photos by Juvy A. Orillaza, student photographer
Penn College’s first Virtual Part-Time Job Fair, connecting students to a host of resume-building opportunities, will be held from 2:30-5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Pennsylvania College of Technology held 15 in-person commencement ceremonies on Aug. 7-9 – two in the morning and three each afternoon – celebrating Spring and Summer 2020 graduates while adhering to state and federal health guidelines. In light of restrictions on gathering indoors, ceremonies were held outside; festivities were simultaneously streamed for the safety and convenience of those at a distance. The address by student speaker Alexandra D. Petrizzi, of Langhorne, who graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, was delivered live during Friday’s 5 p.m. ceremony and broadcast to classmates in many of the other exercises. Additional precautions, fine-tuned through months of judicious planning, included mandatory masks (except when graduates crossed the stage), temperature checks for students upon arrival and socially spacious seating. “When I saw the set-up for today’s ceremony, I literally had tears in my eyes for one fundamental reason: It took an incredible amount of work to put this together today,” President Davie Jane Gilmour said. “And then I fact-checked myself and said, for all of you, it took an incredible amount of work to sit here today. In many ways, that’s a lesson that you can’t unlearn and perhaps a lesson that you might not have learned otherwise. Nothing rewarding is ever easy. You’re leaving here today with degrees that, all throughout this crazy pandemic, this real life-threatening deal we’re dealing with, is you’re essential workers. You’re in an essential career that will make a difference in people’s lives, both in 2020 and the years to come. That’s what Penn College does: We make you ready, and help you be prepared, for the careers of today and tomorrow. I have no doubt you’ll go out and make us Penn College Proud.”
With support from the National Science Foundation, Pennsylvania College of Technology recently “manufactured” a weeklong educational experience for 13 high school teachers and school counselors from throughout the state.
The Manufacturing Externship Camp revealed to educators the promising realities of manufacturing careers through several activities, including a robot-building exercise that they can replicate at their home schools. The camp is one of several Penn College initiatives – funded by a grant from the NSF’s Advanced Technological Education program – dedicated to growing the manufacturing workforce.
A new format is in place for the 34th Annual Penn College Foundation Golf Classic – sponsored by Compass Group North America – a fundraising event that has generated more than 700 scholarship awards totaling nearly $900,000 in student support since its inception.
Adapting to ongoing pandemic restrictions, this year’s event enables foursomes to register and complete their rounds during the month of September at the Williamsport Country Club while enjoying a complimentary lunch on the course. Additionally, all teams will receive gift certificates for a “Let Le Jeune Chef Cater Your Friday Night” five-course, take-home dinner, along with a choice of individual player gifts. At the end of the tournament, there will be awards for the low individual and team scores on both a net and gross basis.
The Penn College women’s basketball and soccer teams will host the Wildcat Dash, a virtual 5K run/walk on Wednesday, Aug. 5, as a fundraising initiative for student-athletes. Participants will receive a printable race bib and a T-shirt, and competitive racers can submit their results for a chance at medals and other prizes. The cost is $15 for Penn College students or anyone 18 years old or younger, $25 for non-students older than 18. Register, lace up those running shoes, and get ready to dash with the Wildcats anytime and anywhere on Aug. 5!
Forty-three pints of blood – 13 from first-time donors – were collected by the American Red Cross during a June 24 visit to Penn’s Inn. “The American Red Cross and College Health Services are so grateful to all our partners that continue to stand with us through the evolution of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19),” health services director Carl L. Shaner said in an email to donors. “Your efforts have helped boost the community blood supply and ensure hospital patients have the lifesaving blood they need.” The next campus Bloodmobile, the first of the fall semester and a return to the two-day format, will be held from noon to 6 p.m. Sept. 2-3. Make an appointment today!
Hundreds of local residents collectively and peacefully added to the national conversation about injustice, race and hateful speech on Friday morning, taking part in a “Walk About It, Be About It” event. The 7.42-mile march traveled from Memorial Park in Williamsport’s West End to Montoursville, passing by Penn College to connect with the Susquehanna Riverwalk. Chanting and carrying signs – and drawing supportive honks from motorists – participants set aside politics to focus on the “unity” within “community.”
The observance of Constitution Week (Sept. 17-23), as well as Tuesday’s National Voter Registration Day, offers the Penn College community a reminder of an informed citizenry’s role in protecting and defending America’s foundational framework. An information table has been set up through Wednesday evening in the Bush Campus Center lobby, stocked with pocket editions of the U.S. Constitution, voter swag and registration applications. Similar tables have been provided throughout the past week in various campus locations, with the cooperation of the League of Women Voters, to mark the Sept. 17, 1787, signing of America’s fundamental document. Watch PCToday for photos from Tuesday’s related activity: “Hot Dog, You’re Voting!” held from 5 to 6 p.m. on the lawn of the Thompson Professional Development Center. The event provided students the opportunity to connect with faculty, staff, campus support services and, of course, dogs! There was information about voting, friendly (masked) faces and treats for all.
appropriate supplies will be provided; the group will meet in front of the ACC for 9 a.m. Those interested should sign up in advance by submitting the “(community) Service Saturday” registration form on the Student Engagement portal page. Questions? Email the office for answers!
A special virtual event Thursday afternoon honored the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s support of expanded welding facilities at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Forty-three pints of blood – 13 from first-time donors – were collected by the American Red Cross during a June 24 visit to Penn’s Inn. “The American Red Cross and College Health Services are so grateful to all our partners that continue to stand with us through the evolution of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19),” health services director Carl L. Shaner said in an email to donors. “Your efforts have helped boost the community blood supply and ensure hospital patients have the lifesaving blood they need.” The next campus Bloodmobile, the first of the fall semester and a return to the two-day format, will be held from noon to 6 p.m. Sept. 2-3. Make an appointment today!