News about Students

The ever-friendly faces of the Dunham Children’s Learning Center have been busy lately, meeting and greeting people at the center and around campus.

The first adventure was a visit by Penn College President Michael J. Reed, who wanted to see firsthand what the children and their families create and learn every day at the CLC.

“It was great to inform him about the wonderful benefit that the center allows for our student families, as well as for faculty, staff and alumni,” said Linda A. Reichert, the center’s director (who also provided the photos). “The children welcomed him with open arms, as they are all accustomed to having regular visitors and students in the center as a lab for adult learners.”

The youngsters later ventured out to visit Veteran & Military Services in the Davie Jane Gilmour Center to show appreciation for all that servicemen and women do to keep America safe. The children presented Chet Beaver, coordinator, and Katie C. Burke, veteran services specialist, with a huge heart featuring all of their painted handprints, as well as individual patriotic “Thank you” cards.

Seventeen students – including representatives of such varied campus organizations as Baja SAE, the Black Student Union, Information Security Association and the Penn College Business Club – participated in last weekend’s “(community) Service Saturday” at an area Habitat for Humanity site.

The volunteers were joined by Jaycie M. Loud, assistant director of student engagement, and worked with the Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity Home Preservation Program to remove weeds, brush and undergrowth at a home near Montoursville Area High School.

“(community) Service Saturday” events, held the second Saturday of the month, provide Penn College students with opportunities to volunteer within the Greater Williamsport area and get acquainted with nearby nonprofits. The next will be from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Jan. 14, when students will make no-sew fleece blankets for donation to local organizations.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for being one of the nearly 400 institutions nationwide designated as 2022 ALL IN Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting.

The designation identifies colleges and universities making intentional efforts to increase student voter participation and nonpartisan student democratic engagement.

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A lunchtime program Wednesday celebrated Penn College’s Land Acknowledgement, including an official History Trail marker newly installed just outside the Bush Campus Center’s west entrance.

“We acknowledge that the land on which we live, work and learn is the ancestral home of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee, Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannocks and the Lenni Lenape (Delaware). We, too, recognize their Woodland Period ancestors,” the acknowledgement reads. “We are grateful for their stewardship and management of this land over thousands of years and promote this recognition in honor and respect of that caretaking.”

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No, it’s not déjà vu!

When someone contributes to another someone’s peerless educational experience abroad, gratitude is a message worth repeating. And Hannah C. Regester, who completed a certificate in professional baking in August – not long after a transformative 16-day exploration of Italy’s culture and cuisine – has no issue with seconding other students’ sincere affection for Penn College’s selfless benefactors.

“This has been a bucket list item of mine for years, but I never thought it would be possible in college,” Regester said. “Not only has it opened my eyes to future traveling adventures in the works, but it has helped me improve flavor exploration and understand the importance of simplicity.”

College Relations’ “Give Thanks, Paw It Forward” movement has brought campus attention to a variety of heartwarming stories this week, while providing students with multiple avenues for expressing their gratefulness: a dedicated hashtag, for instance, along with handwritten “thank you” notes to donors and a collection on behalf of The Cupboard food pantry.

Members of Phi Theta Kappa gathered to de-stress and express their gratitude – a fitting focus for the pre-Thanksgiving (and pre-Finals) season. Led by CC Hawkins, a baking & pastry arts grad (2021), applied management student and PTK member, participants each decorated two cookies – one to eat and one to give to someone at Penn College who quietly makes a difference in their experience. Hawkins, of Williamsport, was assisted by Abby E. George, of Harrisburg, who, like Hawkins, earned an associate degree in baking & pastry arts in 2021 and is pursuing a bachelor’s in applied management, and PTK member Zak Smith, a welding & fabrication engineering technology student from West Chester. Leading the business portion of the gathering was Karen L. Avery, PTK adviser and assistant professor of biology. Phi Theta Kappa is an international honor society for students in associate-degree majors.

Penn College Counseling Services and the Wellness Education Office are co-sponsoring a local conference site for International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Nov. 19, in the Thompson Professional Development Center’s Mountain Laurel Room.

Survivors Day is a free event in which survivors of suicide loss come together to find connection, understanding and hope through their shared experience.

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The halfway mark in Penn College’s “Give Thanks, Paw It Forward” series of profiles belongs to Diana M. Gaglione, whose 14-day Global Experiences trip to Spain left her grateful for those who helped her embrace the “unimaginable beauty” of traveling outside her comfort zone.

“The opportunity to experience a new culture was priceless to me. Words cannot describe how valuable it was for every person on this trip,” said Gaglione, who is majoring in building science & sustainable design: architectural technology concentration. “We all gained a new understanding of the world. It’s been easier to see the beauty in everyday life because of it.”

Those who echo her praise for the benefactors who contribute in so many ways to students’ overall college experience are invited to share their appreciation via social media during this year’s campaign (Nov. 12-18) using #PCTgrateful.

Nineteen students enrolled in emergency management & homeland security at Pennsylvania College of Technology recently toured the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency in Harrisburg.

“Touring PEMA was a great experience,” said Colten C.B. Hajicek, a freshman from Redmond, Washington. “It was amazing to see all the technology and intricate parts that go into emergency management.”

Students learned about the role PEMA plays in emergencies and regularly planned events throughout the commonwealth, as well as jobs for which students may apply after graduating.

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The Penn College Women in Construction club is remembering one of its own, showcasing a late classmate’s work on the second floor of the Hager Lifelong Education Center.

Ashley D. Gentile-Wing was pursuing an associate degree in architecture and bachelor’s in residential construction technology & management when she died in a March 6 vehicle accident in Maine. (Both degrees were posthumously awarded by former President Davie Jane Gilmour during the college’s Spring 2022 commencement ceremonies.)

The student organization framed one of Gentile-Wing’s final designs, a poster depicting the San Giovanni Chapel in Val di Lago, Italy, and will hang it on a south wall near the architecture department.

The second day of College Relations’ “Give Thanks, Paw It Forward” campaign shines a deserved light on Ashlee Felix-Taveras, who transferred into the human services & restorative justice major after trying on a few academic hats at two other institutions. Inspired by her program and destined for success upon her graduation next month, she is grateful for a campus community that has embraced her and her young daughter.

“The atmosphere here is very helpful with that. My professors are very flexible, even if I have to bring her in with me or if I need to miss class because she is sick,” said Felix-Taveras, who also assists the Admissions Office on a part-time basis. “I’ve been able to attend classes remotely in some cases. Also, Penn College has a day care and it’s an educational day care. She’s getting all the help that I know she’s going to need. This place is amazing for students like me who are nontraditional and have children of their own. And I very much appreciate that.”

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The Penn College community commended its veterans, active-duty personnel and reservists late last week through a variety of events captured by cross-campus photo contributors. Supplementing an online honor roll of self-identifying servicemen and women that was posted to PCToday, the week included a classroom visit from the head of a veteran-owned Williamsport security business; a Thursday reception organized by Kimberly S. Cordrey, Lumley Aviation Center secretary; the Wildcat Events Board’s “Red, White & Blue Day” celebration in the Field House (moved indoors due to Friday’s heavy rains); and a stylish Saturday salute from Wildcat cheerleaders in Bardo Gym.

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As part of Penn College’s “Give Thanks, Paw It Forward” campaign, an annual expression of deep and widespread appreciation, College Relations is sharing a week’s worth of “Meet the Makers” profiles that showcase students’ gratitude for their life-changing campus experiences. The pre-Thanksgiving series begins with Bryan M. Bilbao, among the first to graduate from the School of Nursing & Health Sciences with a Combined Bachelor/Master of Science degree in physician assistant studies. “Penn College reinvigorated in me that all good things come with hard work and dedication,” says Bilbao, the student speaker at August commencement, whose popular YouTube video advises caregivers on how to treat patients better. He is an emergency medicine physician assistant with ApolloMD, working in the emergency rooms of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Regional Hospital of Scranton and Moses Taylor Hospital.

A full day of exploring sacred geometry was observed on Pennsylvania College of Technology’s campus Thursday with a seven-hour workshop in The Dr. Welch Workshop: A Makerspace followed by an artist talk in The Gallery at Penn College. Reni Gower, professor emerita of painting and printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University, was the featured presenter at both events, part of the mixed-media exhibition, “Geometric Aljamía: A Cultural Transliteration,” on display through Dec. 2 in the college’s gallery on the third floor of The Madigan Library. Designed to reveal cross-cultural affinities, the sessions examined the spiritual and ethnic dimensions of pattern, light and color and reflected on the commonalities of cultures often portrayed as clashing instead of connected at deep and fundamental levels. The Gallery at Penn College is open 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. (The gallery is closed on Mondays, Saturdays and during college holidays and breaks, including Nov. 23-28.)

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Motor Truck Equipment Co., the parent company of Kenworth of Pennsylvania and Motor Truck Thermo King, has enhanced and expanded its partnership with Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Primarily represented as Kenworth of Pennsylvania, a Corporate Tomorrow Maker, the sister companies have partnered with Penn College for nearly 10 years in association with the diesel technology program. The company, headquartered in Carlisle, is recognized as an Ambassador’s Society ($25,000-$49,999) member on the college’s Donor Wall.

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