Students

Dining Services Faculty & Staff Students

Sale of soups, ceramics soulfully benefits food pantry

The table is set, making mealtime better for those in need.

Campus artisans provided unique wares ... — Campus artisans provided unique wares …

... for a ceramic art sale that added to the fundraiser's success. — … for a ceramic art sale that added to the fundraiser’s success.

Dining Services held its third annual Soup for the Soul event on Thursday, raising more than $1,100 to benefit The Cupboard. For an $8 donation, participants chose a handcrafted bowl and enjoyed a meal of chicken tortilla or cheddar broccoli soup, roll, dessert and beverage. A ceramic art sale was held in conjunction with the benefit meal, featuring such items as mugs, pitchers, wall hangings and tiny statues. Bowls and art pieces were made and donated by instructor David A. Stabley and students in his ceramic and wood sculpture classes. For more information on the food pantry, housed on the first floor of the Bush Campus Center (Room 105H, at the rear of CC Commons), email The Cupboard or visit the Dining Services portal page.
Photos by Noelle B. Bloom, assistant director, Dining Services

Engineering Technologies Plastics & Polymer Students

Penn College plastics student awarded scholarship

The Society of Plastics Engineers Foundation has honored a Pennsylvania College of Technology student with a scholarship.

Sidney C. Trunzo, of Williamsport, majoring in plastics and polymer engineering technology, earned a $1,500 Thermoforming Division Scholarship from the society dedicated to advancing the plastics profession worldwide.

Students

‘Challenging year’ no obstacle to THON fundraising

Penn College’s THON chapter wraps up its first fundraiser of a difficult season on Nov. 8, hoping to recruit “100 donors in 100 days” for the Four Diamonds fight against childhood cancer. The student organization, led by construction management major Rudy C. Shadle, of Mechanicsburg, is soliciting contributions to send dancers to Penn State THON 2021 (tentatively set for Feb. 19-21), a 46-hour “no sleeping, no sitting” marathon on the University Park campus. “Although a challenging year, we have adapted and overcome to still be on track for one of our best fundraising years yet for Penn College,” said Shadle, who was joined at the 2020 event by Bria O. Schneider, an occupational therapy assistant student from York. “We had a lot of new membership and engagement throughout the semester. We now look to keep the momentum going, as we have four more months to fundraise.”

Alumni Aviation Engineering Technologies Events Faculty & Staff Students

College provides invaluable assist during airport ’emergency’

Jets of water shoot from airport-owned apparatus.

Penn College students, faculty and equipment were integral to Saturday’s simulated emergency at the Williamsport Regional Airport in Montoursville. A triennial requirement of the Federal Aviation Administration, this year’s drill featured a smoky runway collision that allowed crews the opportunity to test the strengths and weaknesses of their response systems. Matthew D. Krepps, an instructor of aviation maintenance technology, coordinated the college’s involvement in the Williamsport Municipal Airport Authority exercise, which included student “victims” and two planes from the Lumley Aviation Center’s instructional fleet: a recently donated CL-600 Challenger corporate jet and an older Sabreliner aircraft. A fog machine was used in the latter plane to obscure the vision of rescue workers without using actual smoke that would choke the student volunteers acting as injured passengers.

Faculty & Staff General Information Students

Guest readers celebrate child care center’s vital mission

The president visits with "Birds" at the CLC. (Photo by Tiffany L. Tyhanic, Children's Learning Center group leader) — The president visits with “Birds” at the CLC. (Photo by Tiffany L. Tyhanic, Children’s Learning Center group leader)

In honor of “Celebrating Campus Children’s Centers Week” (Oct. 5-9), Penn College President Davie Jane Gilmour visited the Dunham Children’s Learning Center to read the story “Fall Leaves Fall!” to children.

In return, children from the Birds Nest presented Gilmour with a thank-you card that looked just like the owls they had made in class.

The Bears Bunch also had a guest reader as part of the celebration. Hillary E. Hofstrom, the college’s vice president for human resources, and a past parent of the center, read the book “Duncan and Delores.”

Dining Services Faculty & Staff General Information Students

Dining Services’ COVID response noted in national trade publication

Penn College Dining Services’ efforts to maintain continuity during the coronavirus pandemic, both during a spring shutdown and after in-person instruction resumed with the fall semester, are featured in the Summer 2020 cover story of Campus Dining Today, published by The National Association of College & University Food Services: Campus Dining Today

Students

Students’ resilience cited in SGA midterm recap

Penn College’s Student Government Association has issued a midsemester “highlight reel,” detailing its advocacy for students across campus during the challenging year to date.

Among topics in the wide-ranging compendium by SGA President Ethan M. McKenzie are the appointment of senators and officers at the start of the 2020-21 academic year, the establishment of new committees (and reactivation of dormant ones) to address student issues, connection with college departments through town-hall meetings and other outreach, and recognition of students’ compliance in the face of COVID-19.

Alumni Automated Manufacturing & Machining College Relations Engineering Technologies Faculty & Staff STEM Students

Alum’s gift transforms Penn College’s machining lab

Students majoring in one of five manufacturing-related degrees are benefiting from a gift to Pennsylvania College of Technology, featured in a YouTube video. Larry A. Ward, founder of Packaging Progressions Inc., made a donation exceeding $1 million to revamp the college’s machining lab – the largest alumni gift in the college’s history. Ward’s generosity has resulted in fresh paint, lighting, fixtures and 50 new machines for the 14,299-square-foot instructional space. “It’s just completely transformed the entire lab,” says Dakota C. Harrison, a manufacturing engineering technology major from Lewisberry. “And we really couldn’t have done it without Mr. Ward.”

General Information Students

Center receives grant to assist students with child care costs

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Dunham Children’s Learning Center was granted $92,118 from the U.S. Department of Education to help reduce fees for eligible students whose children are enrolled at the early childhood education facility in 2020-21.

Events Students

Coming ‘home’ to hands-on happiness

Serena V. Bergeron, an automotive technology management: collision repair concentration student from Lansdale, stuffs a plush leopard takeaway near a canopy of fall foliage.

The Homecoming and Parent & Family Celebration, while not unaffected by lingering COVID-19 accommodations, still managed to further the unique sense of belonging among Penn College students and graduates. Alumni could connect virtually to their alma mater through several events, and a variety of on-campus activities for current enrollees – both over the weekend and during the days immediately before – brought a pervasive collegiality to the autumn air.

Baking, Pastry & Culinary Arts Business, Arts & Sciences Students

Students display product prowess at PDC ‘trade show’

As a final project for the eight-week Bakery Operations and Product Development course, students set up a trade show in the Thompson Professional Development Center on Oct. 5. As part of the course, baking and pastry arts students develop a product line or business concept and put their marketing lessons to work by developing and staffing a display that includes product packaging, menus or price lists, business cards and other marketing materials.
Photos by Sue A. Kelley, dean of business, arts and sciences

Engineering Technologies Forestry Students

Winged victory

Burke's kite hitches a ride on the fall breeze. — Burke’s kite hitches a ride on the fall breeze.

Forest technology student Lyssa C. Burke took advantage of Wednesday afternoon’s wild winds to fly a stunt kite on the Madigan Library front lawn. A native of Montana, Burke grew up in Idaho and moved to Williamsport a few years ago with her mother; together, they enjoy the great outdoors. Burke’s hobbies also include photography, fishing, skiing, writing and drawing her many characters. (“I never leave home without a sketchbook,” she said.) Burke enrolled at Penn College after enjoying its Autism Spectrum Post-Secondary Interest Experience in the summer of 2018. Through ASPIE, she says she found a supportive environment with the help of the college’s Connections Links (student orientation leaders) and Dawn M. Dickey, director of disability services, who continues to assist Burke in her college experience. Also in high school, Burke engaged in the Wildlife Leadership Academy as a student and a team leader. Based in Lock Haven, the academy aims to empower high school youth to become conservation ambassadors. With the goal of becoming a game warden or conservation officer, Burke says enrolling in Penn College’s forest technology major (and a criminology course) offers an ideal path to her dream occupation.

Alumni Students

Intern-seeking businesses set online sessions for Tuesday

Internship opportunities are the focus of two employers’ virtual information sessions for Penn College students and alumni during the coming week.

Multi-Generational Integration – 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13
New Jersey Transit – 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13

For more, including the majors of interest and the Microsoft Teams links for each of the hourlong presentations, consult the Career Services flyer: Virtual sessions

Alumni College Relations Sports Students

Idled Wildcats grateful for UPMC Field

On the one-year anniversary of UPMC Field, Penn College student-athletes and coaches give thanks to corporate sponsors and Wildcat Club members. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled all intercollegiate athletic events this fall, but student-athletes remain optimistic about the future, thanks to generous donors’ past support.

(While game footage predates COVID-19 precautions, video interviews were conducted in compliance with the college’s health and safety guidelines.)

Alumni Events Students

In-house artist designs Homecoming T-shirt

Ebersole models one of her commemorative creations, with a little help from some appropriately attired 'Student Bodies." — Ebersole models one of her commemorative creations, with a little help from some appropriately attired ‘Student Bodies.”

When Office of Student Engagement staff talked about having a student work on a giveaway for this year’s Homecoming and Parent & Family Celebration, they soon realized that help was but a few feet away: Morgan K. Ebersole, a graphic design major who has worked as a Bush Campus Center Information Desk assistant since Fall 2016.

T-shirts bearing Ebersole’s design will be distributed free to students throughout this week – pop-up locations will be listed on Student Life social media and the Stall Wall Weekly – and available for sale ($10.95) at The College Store for alumni, families and employees.

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