Members of the Hershey Region of the Antique Automobile Association of America, among the generous champions of Penn College’s automotive restoration technology major, recently returned to main campus as the first stop on this season’s “Point Run” schedule. The group enjoyed a buffet lunch, toured several instructional areas, and met with student members of the Penn College Motorsports Association and the Classic Cruisers Club.
The empowering combination of applied technology education and financial support was celebrated Sunday afternoon, as Pennsylvania College of Technology hosted its second annual Scholarship Luncheon in the campus Field House.
“I am overwhelmed by the collective energies in this room to transform tomorrow,” President Davie Jane Gilmour said, addressing students, families and donors alike. Announcing that the coming academic year will include the largest total amount of scholarships awarded in any one year during the college’s history, she thanked attendees for their significant role in helping students succeed.
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.
A dedicated group of Pennsylvania College of Technology welding students added the “crown” to a stunning remodeling job for a McEwensville homeowner.
Seven members of the college’s American Welding Society student chapter and faculty adviser Steve J. Kopera volunteered their time and expertise to craft and install a 6-by-9-foot “tree of life” metallic sculpture at a former church.
Anne Reiner, founder of the On the Pulse local news site, recently interviewed Penn College welding major Erin M. Beaver, of Winfield, for a piece about the sculpture she is crafting for next month’s state SkillsUSA competition. Part of an all-female team that competed at SkillsUSA nationals last year, the senior draws upon a reverence for Native American culture (and an equally strong vocational passion) in crafting her latest creation.
Three female welding and fabrication engineering technology majors, who competed at SkillsUSA Nationals last summer, are included in the winter issue of SkillsUSA Champions. Erin M. Beaver, of Winfield; Joelle E. Perelli, of Bath; and Natalie J. Rhoades, of Weedville, were among the nearly two dozen Penn College students who traveled to SkillsUSA National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, by virtue of their earlier gold medals in Pennsylvania competition. The magazine has a print circulation of about 25,000 educators and stakeholders, with a substantial digital circulation to student members.
Varied construction professionals working on expansion of the Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center, some with decades of experience on Penn College projects, recently shared their considerable insights during a National Engineers Week panel discussion. Organized by the School of Construction & Design Technologies and its Civil Engineering and Surveying Department, the event connected a standing-room-only crowd of students, faculty and administrators to those working on the project – and navigating such diverse challenges as relocation of parking, management of storm water, the need for consistent communication and knowledge of the electrical service required to power the nation’s only electron-beam welding equipment on a college campus. The panel comprised civil and electrical engineers, surveyors, architects, construction managers, and contractors: Todd Colocino, CMT Laboratories Inc.; Benedict Dubbs, Murray Associates Architects; Jeremy Heimbach, Myco Mechanical; Chad Maholtz, Leonard S. Fiore Inc.; John Murphy, Greenman-Pedersen Inc.; Timothy O. Rissell, executive director of Penn College General Services; Thomas A. Rodino, Marx Sheet Metal & Mechanical Inc.; Dan A. Vassallo, Vassallo Engineering and Surveying Inc.; and Rich Zerby, TurnKey Electric Inc.
Team members involved in expansion of the Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center at Penn College will discuss their roles and responsibilities during a roundtable session from 3:30-5 p.m. Tuesday in Room 104 of College Avenue Labs.
Hosted by the college’s Civil Engineering and Surveying Department and the School of Construction & Design Technologies, the event will connect the campus community to the civil engineers, surveyors, architects, construction managers, contractors and others whose expertise is vital to the ongoing project.
Pennsylvania College of Technology is partnering with Cambridge Vacuum Engineering Inc. to bring electron beam welding to the curriculum of its welding and metal fabrication program.
A 6okV electron beam welder from CVE, a Cambridge, England-based, company with a U.S. sales and support office, will be used by the college in its soon-to-be expanded welding instructional facility in the Lycoming Engines Metal Trade Center. This is the first electron beam welder placed by the company in any college or university within the United States, and one of only a few in higher-education institutions worldwide.
The welder will be installed in the fall of 2019, immediately enabling the college to enhance the majors offered within the welding and metal fabrication program, providing exceptional opportunities for Penn College students.
The need for electron beam welder technicians is increasing in industry; the partnership with CVE will help Penn College satisfy that demand. Electron beam welding has become a vital technology in the aerospace, automotive, energy, medical, semiconductor and military industries.
On the surface, the three men have little in common. One looks like a vibrant, distinguished grandfather with his neatly trimmed white goatee and confident gait. The second could pass for a lead singer in a rock band with his lip and nose rings, faded T-shirt and long hair. The third appears to be a budding executive with his coiffed hair and button-down shirt complemented by a perfect smile.
They are separated by appearance, age, background and job title. But the three share educational roots at Pennsylvania College of Technology and mission at Packaging Progressions Inc. in Souderton.
Produced by SkillsUSA, a “Diversity in Manufacturing” video features the state champion Penn College welding team of Erin M. Beaver, Joelle E. Perelli and Natalie Rhoades. The welding and fabrication engineering majors are helping to change America’s outdated ideas on what manufacturing is and what kind of person can find success, security and satisfaction in a manufacturing-related career. The video, added to the college’s YouTube channel, also includes insights from Volvo Construction Equipment North America.
State Sen. Patrick M. Browne, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, visited Pennsylvania College of Technology on Thursday.
Browne, who represents the 16th District – which includes Allentown and other municipalities within Lehigh County – came to campus after presenting an election and legislative update at a breakfast sponsored by the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.
He was invited by fellow Appropriations Committee member Sen. Gene Yaw, who also serves as chairman of the Penn College Board of Directors. Yaw also hosted the Chamber legislative update event, held at the Genetti Hotel in Williamsport.
“In this town we call home, everybody hail to the pumpkin song,” say the lyrics in a modern-day film favorite, and Penn College students surely welcomed Halloween with a pair of juxtaposed traditions: kid-friendly hours for trick-or-treating at The Village Apartments on Wednesday, balanced by the following night’s shudder-inducing attraction of the ever-expanding “Arc Asylum” haunted welding laboratory.
Construction has commenced on a project that will expand and enhance the space available for welding instruction at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
The expansion, made possible in part by a $2 million grant provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, will increase the size of welding-related instructional space in the Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center by approximately 35,000 square feet.
Expanding will allow the welding program to grow the curriculum and enroll up to 60 more students annually. Traditionally, the program has a waiting list for enrollees.
Three talented female welding students from Pennsylvania College of Technology didn’t win their national competition, but the result of their effort will endure much longer than the shine of any medal.
A rocket stove manufactured by welding and fabrication engineering technology students Erin M. Beaver, of Winfield; Joelle E. Perelli, of Bath; and Natalie J. Rhoades, of Weedville, earlier this summer at the SkillsUSA National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, is in the process of being donated to a family in the developing world.
“You don’t realize what you have until you find out what other people don’t have. That made me appreciate the competition even more,” Rhoades said.