College to Welcome Students From 30 High Schools on Career Day

Pennsylvania College of Technology will host more than 1,100 students from 30 high schools during Career Day on Oct. 20.

The high school students will be given opportunities to tour parts of the college and to engage in hands-on activities related to various careers. All eight of Penn College's academic schools will be represented, with 50 faculty members offering workshops or talks.

Activities are planned at the college's main campus, as well as the Schneebeli Earth Science Center near Allenwood, the Lumley Aviation Center in Montoursville and the Advanced Automotive Technology Center in Williamsport's west end.

"Career Day is a great opportunity for high school students to see a college campus, because many won't have the chance to make the trip with their families," said Beverly A. Hunsberger, college transition specialist for Penn College's Outreach for K-12 Office.

The high school students not only see the campus but also participate in such hands-on activities as creating a computer game, designing a landscape, making their own plastic material (from green, oozy slime to nylon), assembling and fueling a model car powered by a fuel cell, putting tubes in a patient's airway or pacing a heart that is going too slow (in the paramedic lab), and going on the air with a DJ at WPTC, the college radio station.

Tours will be available of many academic-major areas, as well as the Roger and Peggy Madigan Library and on-campus student housing.

Schools travel as far as 130 miles for the event, which allows students to get a closer look at many career options and helps them determine where their interests lie when making career choices.

While the traditional Mousetrap Racer Contest that high schools competed in during Career Day has been discontinued, automotive technology faculty will hold information sessions for high schools interested in participating in a new outreach initiative for high schools a Fuel-Cell Challenge competition.

The Outreach for K-12 Office organizes Career Day each fall for high school students, as well as in the spring for students in grades 7-9. The next career day for seventh- to ninth-graders is scheduled for March 12.

School districts may register on the Web . For more information, call (570) 320-8003, send e-mail or visit online.

For more information about Penn College, call toll free (800) 367-9222 or visit on the Web .