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From living space to makerspace, summer visitors have their hands full

Learning the skills and craftsmanship required of a builder in the newest pre-college offering: Building Construction.

A dozen residential Pre-College Programs and a daytime Creative Art Camp brought hundreds of young women and men to Penn College’s campuses in mid-June, providing hands-on entry to the myriad career opportunities reflected in the institution’s postsecondary curriculum. Keeping campers (and PCToday photographers) busy in recent days were these fun learning opportunities, some of which involved culminating projects: Architecture Odyssey, Autism Spectrum Post-Secondary Interest Experience (ASPIE), Automotive Restoration, Aviation, Building Construction (new this year), Creative Art Camp, Engineering, Future Restaurateurs, Graphic Design Summer Studio, Grow & Design Horticulture, Health Careers, Information Technology and SMART (Science and Math in Real-world Technologies) Girls.

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Dental Hygiene Emergency Management Emergency Medical Services/Paramedic Nursing Nursing & Health Sciences Occupational Therapy Assistant Physical Therapist Assistant Physician Assistant Radiography Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications Students Surgical Technology

Mock crisis authentically adds to interdisciplinary preparedness

Samer R. Doss, a PA student from Montoursville, listens to the heartbeat of dental hygiene student Megan P. Fitzsimmons, of Portville, N.Y.

Students from Penn College’s School of Nursing & Health Sciences and School of Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications joined area law enforcement, emergency management and health care professionals in a recent simulation at UPMC Susquehanna Williamsport Regional Medical Center and a variety of other locations.

The college’s paramedic program has participated in the drill since its inception, and this year, the School of Nursing & Health Sciences decided to participate schoolwide to provide an interdisciplinary learning opportunity. The school had conducted its own Interdisciplinary Professional Experience on campus for several years.

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Architectural Technology Art and Graphic Design Automated Manufacturing & Machining Aviation Baking, Pastry & Culinary Arts Building Construction Business & Hospitality Collision Repair & Restoration Construction & Design Technologies Dental Hygiene Electronics & Computer Engineering Technology General Information Health Information Technology Information Technology Landscape/Horticulture Nursing Nursing & Health Sciences Occupational Therapy Assistant Physical Therapist Assistant Physician Assistant Plastics & Polymer Radiography Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications Surgical Technology Transportation & Natural Resources Technologies Welding

Pre-College Programs to enrich participants’ summer experience

Young women enrolled in SMART Girls, among the wide-ranging roster of pre-college programs at Pennsylvania College of Technology, assemble a robot during last summer’s camp.

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.

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Nursing & Health Sciences Radiography Students

Routine learning experience leads to remarkable history lesson

Jennifer Nicholson, of Lock Haven, a Pennsylvania College of Technology radiography student and Navy veteran, arranged a visit to the aircraft carrier Intrepid, now a museum in New York, for World War II veteran Robert Grieb after learning about his story during a clinical education experience. Grieb served on the carrier.

A Pennsylvania College of Technology radiography student, finding common ground with a patient she met during a clinical experience at a local hospital, made a trip to New York City that she’ll likely never forget. Nor will the World War II veteran she accompanied.

Jennifer Nicholson, of Lock Haven, learned of the veteran while she was helping with a physician-ordered radiography exam for his son. Penn College radiography students receive their training on campus and in the radiology departments of affiliate hospitals.

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Nursing & Health Sciences Radiography Students

Radiography students support Breast Cancer Awareness Month with ‘Pink Out’

Radiography students sport pink to help support breast cancer awareness and the importance of early detection.
Radiography students sport pink to help support breast cancer awareness and the importance of early detection.

On Oct. 10, in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, students in Karen L. Plankenhorn’s Pediatric and Trauma Radiography course sported the cause’s emblematic color. According to the American Cancer Society, women have a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetimes. Plankenhorn, clinical supervisor for radiography, began the October “Pink Out” tradition several years ago with students in her Introduction to Mammography course. “The class has since been switched to the Spring semester, but I still like to incorporate it into my Fall semester class because I feel strongly about bringing awareness to breast cancer and early detection,” Plankenhorn said.

Alumni Applied Health Dental Hygiene Emergency Medical Services/Paramedic Events Exercise Science Faculty & Staff Health Information Technology Nursing Nursing & Health Sciences Occupational Therapy Assistant Physical Therapist Assistant Physician Assistant President Radiography Students Surgical Technology

School of Nursing & Health Sciences hosts celebration

Pennsylvania College of Technology welcomed several School of Nursing & Health Sciences alumni back to campus to speak at an event celebrating the school’s name change, its academic majors, and milestone anniversaries for two programs: occupational therapy assistant (30 years) and physician assistant (20 years). From left are Megan Wright, ’12, a physician assistant practicing physical medicine and rehabilitation; Brian Webster, ’06, a nurse practitioner specializing in emergency and family nursing; President Davie Jane Gilmour; Sandra L. Richmond, dean of nursing and health sciences; and Michele “Mindy” Tedesco, ’88, a registered occupational therapist specializing in home health care.

The School of Nursing & Health Sciences at Pennsylvania College of Technology held a multifaceted celebration on Oct. 4 by hosting an open house of its facilities and welcoming accomplished alumni, who reflected on how their education has shaped their careers.

“We come together … to celebrate the positive impact all 10 of our nursing and health sciences programs have on our students’ lives, the professions in which they work, and the communities they serve,” said Sandra L. Richmond, dean of nursing and health sciences.

Of particular significance during the celebration was a change to the school’s name: from the School of Health Sciences to the School of Nursing & Health Sciences, and the anniversaries of the occupational therapy assistant program, whose first students graduated 30 years ago, and the physician assistant program, which graduated its first students 20 years ago.

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Alumni Dental Hygiene Faculty & Staff Nursing Nursing & Health Sciences Physician Assistant Radiography Students

Health Sciences Team Owns ‘Breakout’ Session

Conquering the interactive challenge of Williamsport Escapes are (clockwise, from bottom left) Zeel Patel, a pre-nursing student from Bensalem; Long; Traister; Cera N. Blunk, a physician assistant major from Schuylkill Haven; Emily K. Conklin, a pre-dental hygiene student from Port Allegany; and Constance J. Plankenhorn, of Williamsport, enrolled in physician assistant studies.
Conquering the interactive challenge of Williamsport Escapes are (clockwise, from bottom left) Zeel Patel, a pre-nursing student from Bensalem; Long; Traister; Cera N. Blunk, a physician assistant major from Schuylkill Haven; Emily K. Conklin, a pre-dental hygiene student from Port Allegany; and Constance J. Plankenhorn, of Williamsport, enrolled in physician assistant studies.

The Health Sciences Living-Learning Community participated in an activity Friday at Williamsport Escapes, which offers a team-building series of brain games at 201 Basin Street. Tanae A. Traister, clinical director of nursing, and Taren A. (Adams) Long, a 2011 radiography graduate, joined four students as they solved clues that allowed them to break out of the facility’s locker-room area. The group was given 60 minutes to escape and managed to get out with two minutes and 57 seconds to spare! Penn College’s Living-Learning Communities provide themed housing arrangements for first-year residents in a variety of academic majors.
Photo provided

Civil Engineering & Surveying Construction & Design Technologies Faculty & Staff Nursing Nursing & Health Sciences Radiography Students

Veterans’ Holiday Tribute Written in Stars

Regina M. Peluzzo (left), of Philadelphia, a civil engineering technology major, and Jennifer L. Nicholson, an applied health studies: radiography concentration major from Lock Haven, find just the right spot for a special ornament.
Regina M. Peluzzo (left), of Philadelphia, a civil engineering technology major, and Jennifer L. Nicholson, an applied health studies: radiography concentration major from Lock Haven, find just the right spot for a special ornament.
Beaver strung hundreds of stars onto wire for easier decoration this year ...
Beaver strung hundreds of stars onto wire for easier decoration this year …
... and Efrem K. Foster, a nursing student from Williamsport, makes a few adjustments to ensure complete coverage.
… and Efrem K. Foster, a nursing student from Williamsport, makes a few adjustments to ensure complete coverage.
Peluzzo, Nicholson and Foster pause ever so briefly during Thursday's assignment.
Peluzzo, Nicholson and Foster pause ever so briefly during Thursday’s assignment.
With Old Glory providing an apt backdrop for his ascent to the treetop, Haefner adeptly places the final strand of stars.
With Old Glory providing an apt backdrop for his ascent to the treetop, Haefner adeptly places the final strand of stars.

A red, white and blue homage to Penn College’s military family took shape this week outside Madigan Library, where three of the campus’s Veterans Affairs work-study students – along with Chet Beaver, coordinator of veterans/military affairs, and General Services horticulturist Aaron S. Haefner – adorned the Veterans Holiday Tree. This year’s tree is a spruce along the northeast side of the library, a site chosen when a nearby pine that was decorated in each of the past three years was removed due to disease. In addition to colored lights, the tree contains 391 stars (fashioned in the School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies) representing the institution’s veterans and active-duty servicemen and women. In addition, the tree showcases three glass balls containing commemorative ribbons purchased during an annual Giving Tree fundraiser for the Fisher House Foundation.

Nursing & Health Sciences Radiography Students

New Imaging Technology Boosts Radiography Students’ Celebration

Penn College radiography student James P. Lougee, of Watsontown, simulates positioning the lab’s digital radiology equipment to take a chest X-ray of fellow student Kayla E. Rosbach, of Forksville, in the renovated radiography lab.

Students in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s radiography major are celebrating National Radiologic Technology Week, Nov. 5-11. The week recognizes the vital work of radiologic technologists across the nation.

The celebration, sponsored by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists, is scheduled each year during the week that includes Nov. 8 to commemorate the discovery of the X-ray by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen on that date in 1895.

In Penn College’s radiography program, students used the week to show off a new digital radiology suite, which uses digital X-ray sensors rather than conventional film. The system includes a wireless receptor – so that the digital images captured by the new equipment can be shared wirelessly – and a mini picture archiving communication system, which allows each student to maintain a portfolio of images that they can access anywhere.

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Emergency Scenarios Translate to Real-Life Benefit for Students

Occupational therapy assistant student Rachel N. Zimmerman, of Pine Grove, shows physician assistant student Zachary S. Kimble, of Bellefonte (acting as a hip-replacement patient who later in the simulation would have a stroke) and other students watching how to use a “reacher” to help with dressing. Observing is Christine A. Tilburg, clinical director of physical therapist assistant.
Occupational therapy assistant student Rachel N. Zimmerman, of Pine Grove, shows physician assistant student Zachary S. Kimble, of Bellefonte (acting as a hip-replacement patient who later in the simulation would have a stroke) and other students watching how to use a “reacher” to help with dressing. Observing is Christine A. Tilburg, clinical director of physical therapist assistant.
Emergency medical services student Ian P. McClure, of Littlestown, and paramedic technician student Megan E. Bobby, of Dysart, explain the actions they would take when called to the Dental Hygiene Clinic to help a patient experiencing an allergic reaction to Novocain.
Emergency medical services student Ian P. McClure, of Littlestown, and paramedic technician student Megan E. Bobby, of Dysart, explain the actions they would take when called to the Dental Hygiene Clinic to help a patient experiencing an allergic reaction to Novocain.
Surgical technology students simulate a laparoscopic gall bladder removal.
Surgical technology students simulate a laparoscopic gall bladder removal.

Around 250 students in the School of Health Sciences – an academic division that spans 11 distinct health care and allied health fields – are participating this week in a series of hands-on emergency health simulations. The school’s fourth annual Interdisciplinary Professional Event involves 24 student teams, each made up of a cross section of health disciplines, discussing and observing one another’s role in their assigned case. Students in the physician assistant major played roles of patients, whose health problems ranged from an allergic reaction to Novocain in the Dental Hygiene Clinic to a loss of consciousness in the Keystone Dining Room, and surgeries to replace hips and remove gallbladders. As “patients” moved through the health care system, they moved, with their observers, from lab to lab in the Breuder Advanced Technology & Health Sciences Center. The purpose of the experience is to prepare the students to deliberatively work together as patients interact with each of them during their health care experience, with an ultimate goal to improve patient care. Also involved were 23 staff and faculty from the school, who planned and managed the event and led groups through their simulations on Tuesday and Thursday.

Faculty & Staff Nursing & Health Sciences Radiography

Kohler Named Director of Radiography at Penn College

Regis C. Kohler

Pennsylvania College of Technology has appointed Regis C. Kohler, of Montoursville, to lead the college’s radiography program.

Kohler began his employment with the college as clinical coordinator of radiography in 1987. He then served as an associate professor in the program for 26 years, from 1990 until his appointment to director in 2016.

“We are pleased that Regis has accepted this position as director of the radiography program,” said Gerri F. Luke, dean of business and hospitality. “His appointment has been very warmly received by students and alumni, as well as our affiliated hospital representatives. We are very confident his vast experience, professionalism and knowledge will provide exceptional leadership for the program.”

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Dental Hygiene Emergency Medical Services/Paramedic Events Faculty & Staff Health Information Technology Nursing Nursing & Health Sciences Occupational Therapy Assistant Physician Assistant Radiography Students Surgical Technology

Health Sciences Students Learn From One Another in Simulations

During a three-day set of emergency simulations that involved 320 Penn College students, Timothy F. Schwartzer (in hat), an emergency medical services student from Bensalem, explains to students in other health sciences majors how paramedics would begin treatment for a patient – played by a volunteer actor – who had fallen from a second-floor balcony.

Because a patient experiencing a health emergency will likely be cared for by many health care professionals with differing specialties, Pennsylvania College of Technology has taken an active approach to ensure that students understand the roles and collaboration necessary on a health care team.

The college’s School of Health Sciences took part in two recent events that involved more than 400 students in mock patient cases on its campus.

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