College Transitions

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Dual-enrollment students attend Penn College NOW visit days

Daniel J. Harris, instructor of HVAC technology, talks with a group about classes in air conditioning and refrigeration while showing them a lab.

More than 400 high school students, all enrolled in Penn College classes at their respective high school or career and technology center, visited campus on Friday. A visit to campus is a required part of every course offered through the college’s Penn College NOW dual-enrollment program. The program offers Penn College classes at more than 50 partner secondary-education facilities throughout the state. College Transitions and First Year Initiatives hosts visits for participating schools throughout the year. To ensure that courses offered through Penn College NOW maintain the same rigor as those offered on campus, secondary teachers work with Penn College faculty liaisons who train them to teach the course curriculum, visit each school at least once a year, and grade high school students’ final projects. In addition to hosting Penn College NOW student visits – including a March 19 trip, also documented in this photo gallery – College Transitions and First Year Initiatives conducts frequent group visits for other secondary students, providing college and career exploration, including a campus tour. On April 2, Lycoming Career and Technology Center plans to bring 200 students to campus for sessions with Career Services, the Academic Success Center and more.

College Transitions Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies Plastics & Polymer

Students explore plastics careers during campus visits

PlastiVan educator Elizabeth Egan demonstrates a particular polymer’s ability to absorb oil.

Joshua J. Rice, instructor of plastics technology, answers questions from Montoursville Area High School students about a speaker part molded on the college’s thermoformer.

Jose M. Perez, instructor of plastics technology, talks with visitors about the thermoforming lab and the hands-on learning that students do there.

Five area school districts who have students taking Penn College courses through the Penn College NOW dual enrollment program brought students to campus to gain a lesson in polymer chemistry from the Society of Plastics Engineers’ PlastiVan. They also toured the college’s plastics and polymer facilities. Feb. 19 brought a visit from the Jersey Shore High School and Sullivan County Middle School – which also attended a special session exploring personality types – and on Feb. 22, students from Montoursville Area High School, Central Mountain High School and Troy Middle School visited. The PlastiVan’s visit was sponsored by Sekisui SPI.

College Transitions Events Faculty & Staff Students

Young audience absorbed by STEM-onstrations

A pupil from the Sullivan County School District learns the principles of pneumatics, courtesy of West Pharmaceutical Services.

Organizations from across the region came together on Thursday on the Penn College campus to provide fun and educational activities in science, technology, engineering and math for elementary- and middle-school students. Families were invited to an evening event in the Field House, and during the day, fifth-graders from many area schools attended a sneak preview that also included a live science show by The Franklin Institute and the School of Business & Hospitality’s popular “Taste of Technology” presentation – complete with fun and delicious demonstrations of physical and chemical phase changes in food – by Chef Frank M. Suchwala, associate professor of hospitality management/culinary arts, and baking and culinary arts students. Students and employees from several other Penn College academic programs also participated. The event is coordinated on campus by the Office of College Transitions and First Year Initiatives and sponsored by Penn College, Lycoming College and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.

College Transitions Events Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies Plastics & Polymer

Families invited to Science Festival on Feb. 21

Local businesses, colleges and other organizations will provide fun, hands-on STEM activities for elementary and middle school students during a Feb. 21 Science Festival in Penn College’s Field House. The free, public event is scheduled from 5-8 p.m.

Elementary and middle school students and their families are invited to a Science Festival on the Pennsylvania College of Technology campus on Thursday, Feb. 21.

The festival is scheduled from 5 to 8 p.m. in the college’s Field House and features hands-on activities designed to spark excitement about science, math, engineering and technology.

The Field House will be filled with fun activities and demonstrations presented by local organizations that include businesses, high school and college faculty and students, and the Society of Plastics Engineers’ PlastiVan. The event is intended to make learning fun.

College Transitions Events Faculty & Staff Students

Career Day focuses teens’ attention on tomorrow’s potential

Students from North Penn-Mansfield High School have fun with therapy tools in the occupational therapy assistant lab.

Approximately 600 students from high schools across the state attended Career Day on Thursday, trying their hands at Penn College’s “degrees that work.” Faculty, staff and several students, giving up time from the Fall Break, provided 34 options for tours, demonstrations and hands-on activities. In addition, employees, students and vendors engaged another 800 high-schoolers in “PA Build My Future” activities.

College Transitions Construction & Design Technologies Events Faculty & Staff

Hundreds of secondary students attend PA Build My Future

Drilling five wood screws into a board, a student from Northern Tier Career Center attempts to “beat the clock” in a timed Pennsylvania Builder Association contest.

PA Build My Future – coordinated by Penn College’s Building Construction Technology Department, College Transitions, and the School of Construction & Design Technologies – hosted approximately 800 secondary students and their chaperones on campus Thursday. The day was designed to allow scores of businesses to engage the students through hands-on activities that display the breadth of opportunities in the construction and design industry, from skilled trades to management. Indoor exhibits were in the Carl Building Technologies Center, Hager Lifelong Education Center and Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center; outdoor exhibits were offered on campus parking lots. WNEP’s Kristina Papa visited campus for the event, which is an outgrowth of a Homebuilding Education Leadership Program grant through the National Housing Endowment. Her report aired during Thursday evening newscasts, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

College Transitions Faculty & Staff

Seasoned Administrator Named to Dean Position at Penn College

Pennsylvania College of Technology has named Randy J. Zangara dean of college transitions and first year initiatives.

As dean, Zangara is responsible for coordinating and aligning first-year programs and services and the development of a collegewide retention plan. He also oversees the Penn College NOW dual enrollment program; K-12 outreach; new student testing, advising and scheduling; and recruitment and retention of identified populations, including veteran students. Additionally, he oversees all aspects of international programming at the college.

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PPL Gift Supports SMART Girls, Penn College NOW Programs

PPL Electric Utilities representatives Mary Baker (left), a forester for the company, and Tracie Witter, regional affairs director, gather with a team of campers who show off the robot they built during Penn College’s annual SMART Girls summer camp. PPL supported SMART Girls and the college’s dual-enrollment program through a $4,000 donation. Joining the group is Elizabeth A. Biddle (back row), director of corporate relations for the college.

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s SMART Girls summer camp, which encourages high school-aged girls to continue challenging themselves in math and science at an age when many lose interest or confidence, convened last week.

Among supporters of the weeklong program was PPL Electric Utilities. PPL donated $4,000 to the college through the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit program. The funds are used to support both SMART Girls and the Penn College NOW dual-enrollment program.

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College Captures ‘Telly’ Award for Informational Video

A video promoting a program in which high school students earn college credit garnered honors for Pennsylvania College of Technology in the 39th annual Telly Awards competition, representing the best work from advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers worldwide.

A Bronze Telly in the “Non-Broadcast – General-Information” category went to a news video titled “High Schoolers Earn Free College Credits with Penn College NOW,” which showcased the Penn College NOW dual-enrollment program.

College Transitions Events Faculty & Staff

Spring 2018 Career Day

A student from Midd-West Middle School prepares a mold in a session led by Franklin H. Reber that taught them to make concrete stepping stones.

The College Transitions Office hosted its Spring Career Day on Monday, welcoming 1,283 seventh- to ninth-graders from across northcentral Pennsylvania. Faculty provided more than 40 sessions in Penn College’s labs to help the visitors explore careers and learn about college expectations. Schools attending were Mifflin County Middle School, North Penn-Mansfield Jr./Sr. High School, Cowanesque Valley Junior-Senior High School, North Penn-Liberty Jr./Sr. High School, Milton Middle School, Midd-West Middle School, Jersey Shore Area Middle School and Canton High School.

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Penn College NOW Dual-Enrollment Program Reaccredited

Plastics and polymer engineering technology student Sapphire E. Naugle, who earned 18 Penn College credits while a student at Jersey Shore Area High School, leads a group of Central Mountain High School Penn College NOW students and others through the college’s rotational molding lab.

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Penn College NOW dual-enrollment program – which provided $2.7 million of college credits free to Pennsylvania high school students in 2016-17 – received reaccreditation from the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships, the organization announced on May 2.

Penn College NOW was established by the college in 2005 to provide Penn College courses to high school students at their schools or career and technology centers. In 2011, it became the first dual-enrollment program in the state to receive accreditation from NACEP, the sole national accrediting body for concurrent-enrollment partnerships. Today only two Pennsylvania dual-enrollment programs are nationally accredited.

College Transitions Faculty & Staff

Administrator to Present at PDE Workshop on Student Retention

Paul R. Watson II, dean of academic success at Pennsylvania College of Technology, has been asked to speak at a Pennsylvania Department of Education workshop about best practices for a performance indicator related to student retention or transfer.

Watson will present at the Perkins Central Workshop, to be held April 11 in Harrisburg. The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 was enacted to enhance the skills of secondary and postsecondary education students nationwide who enroll in career and technical education programs.

In his presentation, Watson will focus on Perkins performance indicator 3P1, which involves student retention and transfer. Penn College exceeded the statewide performance for the indicator.

College Transitions Events Faculty & Staff Students

Scientific Success STEMs From Childhood

"SolarQuest" brings our favorite life-sustaining fireball down to Earth.

The pre-spring thaw – 50-plus degrees in the middle of February – sent a veritable Fountain of Youth flowing through campus, as a series of events introduced area girls and boys to a variety of exciting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math activities. On Feb. 15, a Science Festival was held in Bardo Gym and the Field House; two days later, Girl Scouts gathered for a STEM event that included video-game design, and Boy Scouts attended a third annual Merit Badge College across campus.

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Feb. 15 Festival to Excite Young Minds About Science, Careers

A Science Festival, featuring fun, hands-on activities geared to elementary- and middle-school students and their families, is slated for Thursday, Feb 15, in the Pennsylvania College of Technology Field House.

The event, scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m., is offered free to the community by Penn College and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.

The Field House will be filled with hands-on activities presented by local organizations that include businesses, high school students, college faculty and students, the Society of Plastics Engineers’ PlastiVan, and the Carnegie Science Center, of Pittsburgh. The event is intended to make learning fun and to stimulate children’s interest in math, science, and exciting careers in related fields.

College Transitions Corporate Relations General Information

First National Bank Gift Supports SMART Girls, Penn College NOW

First National Bank recently provided a gift supporting two Penn College educational programs that serve high school students. From left are Don Breon, assistant vice president/treasury management; Daniel Hooper, vice president/ market manager; and Craig Muthler, senior vice president/commercial banking. From the college are Kyle Smith, executive director of the Penn College Foundation, and Tanya Berfield, manager of college transitions.

Two educational programs that serve high school students will benefit from a recent gift from First National Bank to Pennsylvania College of Technology.

First National Bank representatives recently delivered a $10,000 gift that will help support the college’s SMART Girls and Penn College NOW programs. The contribution was made through Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program.

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