A total of 275 students have petitioned to graduate following Pennsylvania College of Technology’s summer sessions. A commencement ceremony is set for Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Community Arts Center.
The student speaker for the 11 a.m. event will be Dylan Gary Otis, of Wyalusing, who will be presented with Associate of Applied Science degrees in heavy construction equipment technology: technician emphasis and heavy construction equipment technology: operator emphasis.
The Susquehanna Valley Corvette Club is steadfast in its support of Pennsylvania College of Technology.
The club, formed in 2003, has established two funds at the college over the years: a Susquehanna Valley Corvette Club Scholarship begun in 2014 and the Susquehanna Valley Corvette Club Foundation Endowed Scholarship initiated in 2018.
To continue its efforts in support of the scholarships at Penn College, the club is conducting a summerlong raffle to benefit those funds. Net proceeds from the raffle – for which the grand prize is the winner’s choice of a 2019 Chevy Silverado, a 2019 Corvette or $35,000 in cash – will go toward those scholarships.
A partnership with Nationwide Insurance Co. has resulted in the loan of six damaged vehicles to Pennsylvania College of Technology’s collision repair labs.
The seeds of the agreement were planted a year ago, when the college’s Collision Repair Advisory Committee discussed the shortage of late-model cars for students’ hands-on instruction. Committee member Brian A. Moore, a Nationwide claims manager, immediately recognized the need and strategized with colleagues on how to meet it.
Nine students from Pennsylvania College of Technology’s SkillsUSA team earned medals in six categories – three silvers and three bronzes – during the National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, from June 24-29.
“The students represented themselves and the college well, and it showed with the number of medals we returned home with,” said SkillsUSA adviser James N. Colton II, an assistant professor of welding. “I look forward to next year and the students that we will have competing.”
A dozen residential Pre-College Programs and a daytime Creative Art Camp brought hundreds of young women and men to Penn College’s campuses in mid-June, providing hands-on entry to the myriad career opportunities reflected in the institution’s postsecondary curriculum. Keeping campers (and PCToday photographers) busy in recent days were these fun learning opportunities, some of which involved culminating projects: Architecture Odyssey, Autism Spectrum Post-Secondary Interest Experience (ASPIE), Automotive Restoration, Aviation, Building Construction (new this year), Creative Art Camp, Engineering, Future Restaurateurs, Graphic Design Summer Studio, Grow & Design Horticulture, Health Careers, Information Technology and SMART (Science and Math in Real-world Technologies) Girls.
When major engine work is required on a Ford F-Series Super Duty truck, it’s all but necessary to separate the cab from the frame – and that’s just what students in the college’s automotive technology: Ford ASSET emphasis major completed this week. A vehicle owner entering a repair garage might well be shocked to see such a seemingly drastic dissection, but technicians know it’s the key to clearer access and maximum efficiency. Assistant professor Jeffrey M. Januchowski (handling the class while John R. Cuprisin, associate professor, is at a training conference) supervised the intricate work as students made all the requisite disconnections and reconnections involved in properly raising and lowering the cabs on an F-250 and an F-550. Penn College’s two-year Ford ASSET major is a cooperative education program, with eight weeks of laboratory work followed by an internship at a dealership.
Penn College students lent a practiced hand to the preservation of the “Tin Goose,” a 1947 precursor to the historically significant Tucker automobile, which was named “Best Post-War Vehicle” at this past weekend’s Concours d’Elegance in Hershey. The car is owned by the William E. Swigart Jr. Automobile Museum in Huntingdon and was entrusted to automotive restoration technology students by Pat Swigart – a gracious and grateful supporter of their work since soon after the major debuted in 2012. “Penn College is so happy to be able to work with her collection and thank her for her dedication to us,” the Classic Cruisers club said in a social media post. “The students who restored her car worked very hard … with this amazing historical vehicle. Thank you again to Ms. Swigart for her dedication and support of us.” Joined by faculty members Roy H. Klinger and Robert K. Vlacich, the group also assisted in vehicle repairs for several drivers in the Grand Ascent hill climb for vintage automobiles.
Photos provided
For the fourth year in a row, Pennsylvania College of Technology has been honored with Tree Campus USA recognition for establishing and sustaining healthy community forests.
The national program was created a dozen years ago by the Arbor Day Foundation to honor educational institutions for helping to foster the next generation of environmental stewards.
A Pennsylvania College of Technology student enrolled in the college’s Ford ASSET major and working at a Tioga County dealership has received a $5,000 scholarship from the Pennsylvania Automotive Association.
Derek T. Dreps, of Liberty, was presented with a check in the Parkes Automotive Technology Center in late May. The PAA Automotive Technology Scholarship, awarded through a fund within the PAA Foundation to a student in a qualifying academic program, is renewable for an additional year.
Pennsylvania College of Technology students received two of the three Women in Energy Mentorship Awards presented this month at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center.
Celeste G. Moquin, of Port Matilda, enrolled in on-site power generation, and Autumn N. Schreiber, of St. Marys, majoring in heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology, were honored at a May 19 dinner.
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.
A Sikorsky VH-60N White Hawk helicopter, part of Marine Helicopter Squadron One, was on standby for President Trump’s visit to Montoursville on Monday night, housed temporarily in the hangar at Penn College’s Lumley Aviation Center. Marine One, the call sign used whenever the commander in chief is aboard one of the fleet of helicopters, departed on Tuesday. Marine One accompanies the president on travels in the U.S. and abroad. The Marine One detachment officer-in-charge offered access and granted permission for the college to publish photos.
Allan Myers Inc., a heavy civil construction and construction materials company operating throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, will contribute an additional $50,000 annually to a scholarship it established previously at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Preference for the Allan Myers Scholarship is given to full-time Penn College students who are employees/family members of Allan Myers Inc.
Pennsylvania College of Technology held the Triple Crown of commencement ceremonies May 17-18 for more than 900 students who petitioned to graduate following the Spring 2019 semester. The Friday afternoon proceedings at the Community Arts Center honored students from the School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies and the School of Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications. Saturday morning featured The School of Construction & Design Technologies and the School of Health Sciences, while students from the School of Business & Hospitality and the School of Transportation & Natural Resources Technologies graduated during the afternoon session. Student speakers were Hannah G. Maize, of Riverside, who received a bachelor’s degree in plastics and polymer engineering technology (summa cum laude) on Friday; Lauren S. Herr, of Lititz, awarded a bachelor’s in construction management (summa cum laude) at Saturday morning’s session; and David A. Gadalla, of Mechanicsburg, who received a bachelor’s degree in aviation maintenance technology in the weekend’s final ceremony. The college also bestowed three teaching honors – the Veronica M. Muzic Master Teacher Award and two Excellence in Teaching Awards – as well as three alumni awards.
A bipartisan group of state legislators, all present for President Davie Jane Gilmour’s budget request to the Senate Appropriations Committee in February, got a follow-up look at Penn College during a trip to main campus on Tuesday. Touring a number of instructional labs with Sen. Gene Yaw (chairman of the college’s board of directors), administrators, faculty and staff were Sen. Art Haywood (D-Cheltenham), minority chair of the Health and Human Services Committee; Sen. Thomas H. Killion (R-Middletown), who chairs the Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee; Sen. Daniel Laughlin (R-Erie), chair of the Game and Fisheries Committee; and Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia), minority chairman of the Banking and Insurance Committee. Along for the visit were H. Fred Walker, director of Erie County Technical School; Kendall Alexander, Haywood’s communications director; and three members of Street’s staff: policy assistant Micah Mahjoubian, legislative aide Angel Betancourt and special assistant Kenneth Carter. Some members of the Senate contingent, who collectively represent highly populated areas from Erie in the northwest to Philadelphia in the southeast corner of the commonwealth, also enjoyed lunch in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant.