Nearly all members of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s SkillsUSA team earned medals during the April 10-12 Pennsylvania Leadership and Skills Conference in Hershey – 20 of them advancing to this summer’s 55th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, through their gold-worthy performances.
Dedicated Nursing Associates Inc., a suburban Pittsburgh staffing agency specializing in health care, has scheduled an information session Monday for students and alumni of the School of Nursing & Health Sciences. Recruiters, who are looking for nursing majors to fill a variety of openings, will be available from 10 a.m. to noon in the atrium of the Breuder Advanced Technology & Health Sciences Center. For more, check out the Career Services flyer: Dedicated Nursing Associates
Also visiting campus this week is F.S. Lopke Contracting Inc. from Apalachin, New York, which is scheduled to interview prospects Tuesday in CC, Room 202.
The Dunham Children’s Learning Center at Pennsylvania College of Technology received a $92,118 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help lower child care fees for eligible students who enroll their children at the facility.
The funding is known as a CCAMPIS grant, which stands for Child Care Access Means Parents in School. It helps the Children’s Learning Center to provide discounts to Penn College students whose income makes them eligible for federal Pell Grants. Reductions range from 25% to 75% of the Children’s Learning Center fees, based on a student’s income as reported to the college’s Financial Aid Office. In addition to the Department of Education’s contribution, the college has budgeted a $241,680 match to ensure the sliding fee scale is available to every eligible student who applies.
Pennsylvania College of Technology is set to provide a quicker pathway to a baking and pastry arts career through a new 12-month certificate in professional baking and a revision to its associate degree in baking and pastry arts that will make a degree obtainable in 16 months.
Allowing students to enter the workforce more quickly helps to meet the needs of the hospitality industry, where there is a high demand for skilled baking and pastry arts professionals, and of students, who will incur a lower financial cost.
Both majors provide a robust yet compact education with extensive hands-on learning. Curriculum has been updated to meet industry needs, helping to ensure students will land jobs.
Twenty-seven members of the Penn College Motorsports Association participated in Friday’s 15th annual Toyota Green Grand Prix, which promotes innovation in sustainable transportation technologies while launching the season-opening weekend at New York’s renowned Watkins Glen International racetrack.
Four graphic design alumni who are creatively fulfilling artistic aspirations returned to campus last weekend to share their experiences with students. Brody W. Gray, ’15, art director at D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc. in Pottsville; Morgan N. Keyser, ’17, associate designer at Andculture in Harrisburg; Laurea (Lapp) McLeland, ’13, senior designer at Seedhouse Design in Chicago; and Emmalee J. Williams, ’16, marketing manager at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport gave a straightforward look at the transition from student to professional in individual presentations and a culminating panel discussion. The informal conversations offered collegiate and career advice to graphic design and advertising art students, as well as the opportunity to pose questions to the panelists. “As a senior in the graphic design program, it was really interesting to hear about how our major’s alumni developed as designers after college,” Nina L. Walk said. “Each speaker took a different avenue to arrive where they are now. It was inspiring to hear about all of the successes, losses and changes that helped shape their careers.” This is the fourth time the graphic design alumni panel has been organized by Penn College’s student chapter of AIGA, a professional association for design, and Nicholas L. Stephenson, instructor of graphic design and chapter adviser.
Penn College’s Wildcat Dance Team held a spring “Take the Stage” benefit Saturday afternoon in the Klump Academic Center Auditorium, the first of two performances within the week. Team members showcased numerous genres of dance throughout the production, accompanied by choreography of equally diverse style. The production will be reprised for students, staff and faculty only in a free performance at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Photos by Rachel A. Eirmann, student photographer
Penn’s Inn served as an accommodating venue for Tuesday’s Grad Finale, catering to students destined for the three commencement ceremonies to be held May 17-18. Students were encouraged to stop by the second floor of the Bush Campus Center from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to pick up graduation tickets, purchase caps and gowns, pose for fun photos, and snag some last-minute pointers on everything from veterans’ benefits to continued involvement with their alma mater. Additionally, Jostens and Snap-on were on hand to share information about class rings and tools.
Photos by J.J. Boettcher, student photographer
Penn College kicked off its fifth annual Pride Week with a flag-raising ceremony outside the Hager Lifelong Education Center on Monday afternoon. Organized by Diversity & Community Engagement and open to all members of the campus community, the celebration ushered in a number of activities throughout the week, including: a “Paint the Rock” event at 2 p.m. Tuesday; an open-mic Pride Cafe at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Wrapture; Safe Zone training for employees; a paint-it-yourself “Wears Your Pride?” T-shirt workshop at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Bush Campus Center, Room 161; an adults-only Drag Show at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Thompson Professional Development Center’s Mountain Laurel Room; and resources and giveaways at a weeklong Pride Table in the CC lobby.
Photos by J.J. Boettcher, student photographer
The colorful curiosities filling The Gallery at Penn College are attracting a good share of visitors, including college students eying occasions for hands-on learning. Jamie L. Mahoney, part-time photography faculty, and her students in Digital Photography (PHO 150) recently took advantage of the gallery space for an experiential session. The current exhibit, “Every Which Way,” features mailable sculptures and interactive installations by artist Abraham Ferraro, a shop supervisor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Instititue. The artwork is on display through Thursday, April 18, when the gallery hosts a closing reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., featuring a gallery talk by the artist at 5:30 p.m. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
It is fitting that each year, Pennsylvania College of Technology students enrolled in a catering class bring their talents to a historic building that, when built in the late 1790s, was a tavern and inn. Set along the Susquehanna River in Lewisburg, it served river travelers.
Now the structure is open to the public as the Packwood House Museum, and among the highlights of the year for the organization is a raffle for an elegant “Champagne and Orchids” dinner for eight, created by the Penn College catering class and served in the museum’s dining room.
From the Spring 2019 Penn College Magazine: Exercise nourishes mental health. A mentorship program offered by the college’s Counseling Services Office and Fitness Center guides students who are struggling with anxiety and depression to become more active. Read Active Bodies, Healthy Outlooks.
Less than 24 hours after freezing April showers and overhead gloom shrouded the area, far more seasonal conditions prevailed for a Spring Open House that more than lived up to its name. Rising temperatures were matched by warm smiles and abundant goodwill in every corner of Penn College’s campuses, where students, employees and alumni helped inquisitive visitors spend a Saturday to remember.
Thirty-two graduates of Williamsport Technical Institute, a precursor to Pennsylvania College of Technology, were among the 70 attendees at Friday’s 19th annual reunion. Combining coffee and continental breakfast, presentations, lunch, and optional tours of the makerspace and brewing lab, the event allowed WTI alumni and their guests to get reacquainted with one another and their alma mater, as well as to talk with current students about the exciting developments since they left campus. Established in 1941, WTI gained a national reputation for its defense training during World War II and for retraining returning veterans for new positions in business and industry. A number of those veterans, who didn’t experience a commencement ceremony or the recognition accorded today’s graduating servicemen and women, were movingly presented with red, white and blue honor cords in gratitude for their military experience. Among those participating in the reunion were President Davie Jane Gilmour; Kimberly R. Cassel, director of alumni relations; Chet Beaver, coordinator of veteran and military services; and student veterans Keenan A. Bayus, software development and information management, Skyler B. Snyder, automotive technology, and Cody R. Harriman, emergency management technology.
Third-year students in Architectural Design Studio V, challenged to create fully functional chairs that hold the weight of an adult without the use of adhesives, impressively delivered on their assignment in presentations Friday morning. Four teams collaborated on the chairs, which were evaluated in the architectural jury room on such criteria as function, aesthetics and ergonomics. Corrugated cardboard was chosen as a valuable raw material, as it carries the best recycling rate of any packaging material in use. In 2015, for instance, more than 23 million tons were recovered and reused – 74 percent of all cardboard produced that year. Geoffrey M. Campbell, assistant professor of architectural technology, and Rob A. Wozniak, associate professor of architectural technology, critiqued the chairs with guest judges Melinda D. Heckman, admissions counselor; Christa Matlack, women’s soccer coach; and Tom Wilson, writer/editor-PCToday. Chairs and explanatory posters could be seen in the architectural wing on the second floor of the Hager Lifelong Education Center during Spring Open House, and will be displayed in the lobby of The Gallery at Penn College during a mid-May exhibit of capstone projects by seniors in the building science and sustainable design major.