News about College Transitions

With the end of another academic year at hand, Pennsylvania College of Technology renewed a spring custom: presenting awards to noteworthy faculty and staff, and acknowledging retirements and other employee milestones.

President Davie Jane Gilmour acknowledged the honorees during an expansive all-college meeting, held May 12 in the Klump Academic Center Auditorium and livestreamed.

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More than 300 high school students, all enrolled in Penn College Dual Enrollment courses, and their chaperones visited campus on Thursday. The students are taking Penn College courses at their high school or career and technology center and made the visit to see the classrooms and labs where their Penn College counterparts take the same coursework. They also toured campus with student ambassadors, ate lunch in Capitol Eatery and were treated to a tour of student housing with Residence Life staff. Through Penn College Dual Enrollment, high school students earn free college credits for the classes they take at their own school. Last year, 1,512 students earned 5,642 credits valued at more than $3.3 million.

Young minds (and the busy hands that accompany them) were thoroughly spellbound at Thursday’s Science Festival in the Field House, where area elementary and middle school students and their families stepped into an astonishing STEM playground. Pennsylvania College of Technology, Lycoming College and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce partnered with exhibitors for three hours of demonstrations and activities designed to ignite an enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and math. “We had 403 participants, which is very exciting considering we missed a year and weren’t able to host the fifth grade daytime event based on uncertainty over COVID during planning,” said Tanya Berfield, director of K-12 Outreach, whose office coordinated the highly popular and interactive event.  “The vendor reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, too!” Penn College was well-represented among those exhibitors, with contributions from the Alpha Chi honor society, the ConCreate Design Club, the Electrical Technology and Nursing departments, and the LEAP Center.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology, Lycoming College and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce invite area elementary and middle school students and their families to a hands-on Science Festival in the Penn College Field House on Thursday, April 7.

The festival, scheduled 5 to 8 p.m., is intended to make learning fun and features activities designed to spark excitement about science, math, engineering and technology.

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“Girl Power,” aimed at helping ninth graders explore potential careers and boost their confidence through encouraging mentorship by professionals, continued over the weekend at Penn College.

The Feb. 27 agenda included hands-on activities in the college’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning lab and its architecture studio; as well as a Q&A with representatives of JEM Group, a woman-owned construction services firm based in Camp Hill.

The program – a mix of virtual meet-ups on Monday evenings and on-campus sessions on Sunday afternoons – runs through April 24.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation has made an Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program contribution that will cover fees for 15 high schools and career and technology centers that are participating in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s dual enrollment program, Penn College NOW.

The Penn College Foundation is approved as an Educational Improvement Organization under EITC, which is administered by the state Department of Community & Economic Development.

Penn College NOW enables academically qualified high school and career and technology center students to take tuition-free courses for college credit. Last year, 1,701 students earned 6,893 credits valued at more than $3.8 million through Penn College NOW.

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A new $200,000 gift from The Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Foundation of Harrisburg brings the foundation’s total scholarship support to Pennsylvania College of Technology students to more than $3 million.

The scholarship endowment, the largest at Penn College, provides student recipients with $5,000 per year for up to four years.

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First National Bank, the largest subsidiary of F.N.B. Corporation, is donating $8,000 to Pennsylvania College of Technology to assist with Penn College NOW, a dual enrollment program.

The FNB donation is being made through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program administered by the state Department of Community & Economic Development. The Penn College Foundation is approved as an Educational Improvement Organization under EITC.

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PPL Electric Utilities is donating $8,000 through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program to Pennsylvania College of Technology in support of Penn College NOW, a dual enrollment program.

The Penn College Foundation is approved as an Educational Improvement Organization under the EITC program administered by the state Department of Community & Economic Development.

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Despite canceling the May 18 tours and hands-on workshops that are part of the traditional twice-yearly Career Day that Pennsylvania College of Technology hosts for middle school and high school students, the College Transitions and First Year Initiatives Office provided a “Career Day – The Virtual Way” resource for Pennsylvania K-12 educators to share with their students.

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SEKISUI SPI, a Bloomsburg-based thermoplastics company, sponsored three days of opportunity for young learners to experiment with polymers via a visit from the Society of Plastics Engineers’ PlastiVan. PlastiVan educator Elizabeth Egan talked with Penn College NOW students from seven high schools who visited over two days. Penn College NOW is the college’s nationally accredited dual-enrollment program, which provides Penn College classes to high school students in their schools, where they receive both high school and college credit for the courses. While on campus, Egan taught the high school students about the history, chemistry and uses of plastic through fun experiments. The students also toured the college’s plastics education facilities, where they interacted with faculty and students, and the campus. The PlastiVan also spent a day at the annual Science Festival on campus Wednesday.

More than 1,500 fifth-graders from local and regional school districts took part in Wednesday’s ninth annual Science Festival at Penn College, encouraged by presenters, sponsors and vendors to dive hands-first into a sea of possibility. Inquisitive girls and boys witnessed a variety of campus demonstrations in Klump Academic Center, Bardo Gymnasium and the Field House during the day, exploring the fertile fields of science, technology, engineering and math. In addition to enlightening the youngsters in attendance, the event – a precursor to an evening session for families – generated front-page coverage in Thursday’s Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology, Lycoming College and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce invite area elementary and middle schools and their families to a hands-on Science Festival in the Penn College Field House on Wednesday, March 4.

The festival, scheduled 5 to 8 p.m., is intended to make learning fun and features activities designed to spark excitement about science, math, engineering and technology.

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Middle school and high school educators got a close-up view of the offerings at Penn College on Friday, courtesy of the College & Career Readiness Conference, hosted by the college’s College Transitions and First Year Initiatives Office. The educators, many of them school counselors who serve as an important resource for students as they consider their futures, toured Penn College’s academic facilities and attended sessions geared toward middle school educators, high school educators, and the skills gap in advanced manufacturing.

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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