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.
SPE PlastiVan educator Elizabeth Egan shows a model of a polymer – a molecule with many parts bonded together.Students from Upper Dauphin Area High School use their fingers to mix glue and borax, creating a fun putty. The fingers were essential to provide heat for the endothermic chemical reaction.High schoolers add oil to water to test a plastic material used to absorb real oil spills in lakes and oceans.Taking advantage of their chemical knowledge, students stick a skewer through a balloon – with the help of lotion to make the skewer slip between the molecules in the latex without popping the balloon.
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.
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.
Randy J. Zangara, dean of college transitions and first year initiatives, welcomes educators in the Student & Administrative Services Center.Carolyn R. Strickland, vice president for enrollment management/associate provost, corrects misconceptions that she hears about Penn College.Educators board trolleys to visit the Schneebeli Earth Science Center and the Lumley Aviation Center. Tours were available in each of the college’s six academic schools.
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.
Trio Los Claveles, from Rochester, N.Y., entertains dinner patrons.Students line up for tasty dishes “from the kitchen.”Naim N. Jabour, assistant professor of architecture, stands ready to discuss an upcoming trip to Spain.Penn College offers a growing number of study abroad programs, from short-term stays to semesterlong adventures and internships.
Students this week took note of Penn College’s place in the global community, from cultural celebration to international study. Tuesday’s Hispanic Heritage Dinner, a collaboration of Student Engagement and Dining Services in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), filled Capitol Eatery with authentic cuisine and live music. On Wednesday, in a Global Experiences Expo facilitated by College Transitions & First Year Initiatives, faculty and students who have traveled abroad answered questions outside the Keystone Dining Room about their experiences. Photos by Juvy A. Orillaza, student photographer
The National Science Foundation recently rewarded Pennsylvania College of Technology’s commitment to tomorrow’s cybersecurity workforce by extending a grant for an additional year.
The grant – “Improving the Pipeline: After-School Model for Preparing Cyber Defense and Information Assurance Professionals” – facilitates interaction between information technology faculty and high school students to introduce rewarding career possibilities in cybersecurity.
College employees rallied to provide nearly 40 educational sessions for middle schoolers from across the region who visited campus on Monday for the college’s twice-a-year Career Day. Facilitated by the college’s College Transitions Office, the event provided 1,267 students with opportunities to explore a wide variety of careers in each of the college’s six academic schools. Visitors included 13 schools and home-schooled students.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
